Secrets
by CeaEmJay
Summary: September, 11th, 2001. Claire's body was never found. Could it be? Could she have survived? Detective Mac Taylor begins to find love again, when Claire returns to New York City. Russ has an untold truth, he uses the FBI to get what he wants. Who has the key to the answers?
1. Rain

Chapter One

Mac sat in his office pondering over the most recent case he had just closed. He'd seen some pretty horrific things in his time, but even he found it hard to believe that one man could cause all that death and destruction. Unfortunately yes, or at least that was where the evidence led him. He couldn't help it, but he did feel a bit sad that his old school friend was behind bars. The criminal was caught and that's all that mattered. It was rather funny if you thought about it, Mason Sykes was never the type of person to get into trouble at school, he was always neat and tidy, did all of his school work, and never got into any trouble, it was tragic really, how so many bad decisions effected this man.

Mac stopped himself in his tracks. What was he doing? sympathizing with a criminal? He knew it wasn't right, yet he couldn't help but feel a personal connection to this case. He just couldn't help thinking that if he had stayed in touch with him from school, 19 lives would have been spared (including mason's own). Somehow he felt a sense of guilt from this case, as if he hadn't done enough to prevent it. Although in reality he probably saved many more lives. He looked back at his own life compared to his former friend, they hadn't started out to dis-similar. The only thing on Mac's mind was, how did one child go from being an A grade student… to a serial killer?

His thoughts were interrupted, and he felt a sense of relief surface, Jo stepped into his office and smiled reassuringly at him. Mac was glad, it wasn't something that he wanted to think about. She sighed silently as she approached Mac, she always knew there had been a spark between the two of them, her heart fluttered every time she was in his presence. Jo just never knew what Mac was thinking, did he feel it too? She looked at him, into his big kind blue green eyes and smiled again, all she could see was love.  
>"What?" Mac asked softly and grinned back admiring her smile.<br>"The guys and I were gonna go grab a bite to eat." Jo said lightly "Fancy joining us?"  
>"Yeah, I'd love to…" Mac began, and before he could think of an excuse not to go, Jo quickly interrupted.<br>"Good, we're going to that new Italian restaurant that opened on 5th Avenue"  
>"Okay," he sighed defeated. Mac looked down with a fond smile, she knew her away around him, just the way Claire had.<p>

He gazed at the pile of unsolved cases at the end of his desk for a moment before dismissing them, one day away from re-reading them wouldn't hurt and so he grabbed his coat. This was when Jo felt guilt sweep over her, she had encouraged Mac leave so early, she looked at the open cases on the desk and returned to look at him.  
>"You can't spend all your time at work" she pleaded, trying to reason with herself rather than with Mac. He nodded and followed her out, they then walked to the elevator where the rest of the team stood waiting.<br>"Time-to go" Danny said quickly, nobody wanted Mac to change his mind about going. Mac was the boss that everyone loved.

-0-

Mac and Jo decided to walk to 5th Ave. from the lab, while the others found there own means of transport. They walked side by side, hands almost touching. Jo wondered for a second time today if Mac felt it to. Her Heart leaped to her throat at the thought, but had to discourage the feeling as she knew they were just close friends. Close friends is good, Jo thought as she attempted to fool herself. If they were more, they could complicate things at work and compromise the cases. Guilt filled her soul again, she had already pulled Mac away from the unsolved cases. Every chance Mac got, he would sit in his office for an hour or so after his shift had finished. He would quietly re-read some cases that had never been solved in the hope that sifting through the evidence another time he would find the answer, the criminal, the missing child and Justice served.

It had started out a nice evening, but now dark clouds began to loom around the tall building of the big apple. Jo and Mac approached Central Park. It being an Late November evening the sun began its decent, and the lighter clouds became reds and purples in the sunset. As it darkened, Christmas lights became more prominent which lit the path like a candle in darkness. There was a chilling breeze that crept up behind the couple and lay over the rest on New York.

Mac felt it also, a strong pulse of passion that flowed through him from the very first day she worked in the lab. Oh, he thought, she certainly knew how to make an impression. The chemistry was strong between them, but Jo was professional, a former FBI agent, and that is what they must remain. Professional. He shook his head as if to remove the thought, but it wouldn't shift. His heart pounded with excitement, he'd never felt this way before, even with Claire. It wasn't more as such, it was just different. It made him feel as if he were a school boy with a silly crush.

The rain had struck without warning, so much so that they quickly ran from their yellow cabs to get inside the restaurant. Many people ran for shelter also, even if they had no intention of eating there, all they wanted was to stay dry. In the jungle of people, rushing towards the door Mac was certain, absolutely positive he saw Claire standing in the rain. His vision was blocked by someone dashing for cover.  
>Claire was gone.<p> 


	2. Love

Chapter Two

Everyone piled inside, except Mac who was frantically searching for his wife outside getting soaked.  
>"Mac" Jo yelled "Mac!" Mac spun round to look at Jo<br>"What are you doing?" she exclaimed.  
>Mac looked around one last time and then finally faced Jo once more, "Nothing," he finally answered. "I thought I saw someone I recognized." Mac felt sick to the stomach, dizzy and confused. He felt for sure he was going crazy. Claire didn't have a twin, or any siblings he was aware of. Suddenly, his mind took him back to the day of 911 and he sat on the wet steps that lead up to the restaurant.

It was a mid September morning, it started out just like any other day. Claire and Mac lay side by side in bed just like usual. Mac leaned over to Claire,  
>"You know what?" He said in a serious tone.<br>"What?" Claire mumbled sleepily  
>"I love you" and with that he kissed her on the cheek and when to the kitchen to make her breakfast. Claire and Mac Taylor were truly in love. Although they had been married for years, they loved each other as if they were newly weds.<br>That was the day that Mac has proposed to take Claire to an opera show.

A tear welled in Mac's eye at the memory. Jo saw the emotion that Mac so rarely shared with the rest of the world and so crouched next to him to give him comfort. Mac put his head in his hands, took a large breath and the cleared his thoughts. The detective took over and he concluded that it couldn't have been her, Claire died on 9/11.  
>"Are you okay?" Jo asked tenderly.<br>Mac felt ashamed of getting upset so quickly about something he had been dealing with for the past 10 years. He nodded to Jo and stood up.  
>"Hey, Jo..." Mac began<br>"Don't feel like eating?" Jo said sadly  
>"I'm sorry" Mac was truly apologetic he just couldn't face the team now.<br>"Do you want some company for the rest of the evening?" Jo asked tenderly. Mac looked at his watch, it was 19:00hours, 7pm.  
>"Do you mind?" Mac asked<br>"I'll go tell the others."  
>He couldn't help but think he would go crazy without someone there. Without Jo there.<p>

-0-

Mac and Jo shared a cab to his apartment.  
>"Thank-you" Mac said "For being here"<br>"You're welcome. Now, lets get you indoors" Jo said "You're more soaked than I am." Once inside, Jo jumped into the shower. While Mac found some small dry clothes that she could wear, however he had no women's clothing, so his smallest shirt and some small pyjama bottoms would have to do. Jo towled up her hair and put Mac's clothes on, which were slightly big for her.

While Mac showered Jo called Tyler and Ellie and told them to be sensible and that she wasn't sure what time she'd be home. Jo put her and Mac's wet clothes in the tumble drier. She knew her way around his apartment, she had been here many times, the two of them were close friends. Her heart was pounding, just being here. She couldn't fight it anymore, just being here. She couldn't fight it anymore, she knew what she had to do. Mac was shirtless in the bathroom with just some pyjamas bottoms on of his own.  
>"Mac" Jo whispered, he turned slightly and smiled,<br>"The clothes fit like a glove then" Mac joked Jo squared up to face Mac, and looked up into those kind eyes. He had shaved, and missed a bit when washing all of the foam off. She reached up to wipe it off. Their lips barely touched each other, Mac wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her in. The spark ignited and became a roaring flame, the passion filled their souls with so much happiness and joy. Mac kissed her tenderly his heart also bursting with pride and love. It was in that moment he realised just how much Jo meant to him, he loved her. She pulled away, and settled in Mac's felt a sense of belonging, here in Mac's arms.

Jo lay into Mac on the sofa, where the two confided in each other, talking for hours. Mac felt an awkwardness when he was asked about the events of earlier that evening.  
>"Who did you recognize?" Jo prompted<br>"Someone I haven't seen in a very long time" Mac tried but Jo turned into him and looked up deep into his eyes, she saw the same pain in him she had seen earlier in the evening.  
>"Hey, you can tell me" she moved around so she was more face to face with him.<br>"I know," he sighed and she listened patiently Mac didn't like opening up to people, but slowly he started to explain.  
>"I told you about my wife, Claire, when 911 hit my wife was in one of the twin towers, she escaped the first but..." He took a deep breath.  
>"You told me" said Jo trying to make it hurt less. A solum tear ran down his cheek. Jo held his shoulder, she knew this was his past and accepted it.<p>

"I saw her, Jo." Mac finally managed to get out quietly "I saw her" This left Jo confused.  
>What did this mean?<br>Did they kiss because Mac was confused?  
>Did Claire die on 911?  
>Why didn't she find Mac?<p>

Mac Held her there, he knew she was as confused as he was, but they'd have to deal with it together, that's what couples did. Mac said it again over in his head, couples. Is that what Jo and he had become? Is that what Jo wanted? Did he even know what he wanted? The night had been strange in many ways. She stayed there, in his arms for the rest of the night.


	3. Claire

Chapter 3

Mac had often wondered what life might be like today if Claire hadn't of disappeared. He was sure it was her, obviously she would have been 10 years older, but her beauty remained. Mac liked to think that she was still out there somewhere, but it pained him to think that if she was, then why didn't she contact him? Why didn't she contact her son Reed? Not very many things seemed to make sense and it all felt like a bad dream.  
>Jo walked into his office in the lab and found him mulling over a photograph of which she assumed was of Claire. Tears began to rise and her emotions became unpredictable, but she buried them deep in her soul to stay strong for Mac. She handed him some reports. He didn't take them so she gently put them on his desk and began to walk out.<br>"Jo," Mac said  
>"Yeah," her voice was slightly broken but tried to conceal it with a fake smile.<br>"About what happened last night…"  
>In a split second her heart pounded ferociously and skipped every other beat. Every thing they felt about each other was about to come crashing down. Her palms began to sweat and she didn't want to hear what was about to be said. Please, she thought, I think I love you.<br>Suddenly, Adam came bouncing in, Mac put the photo face down immediately.  
>"HEY BOSS!" Adam said happily "I think we have a case breaker!" a couple of long seconds passed in silence, finally he realised the socially awkward atmosphere and apologetically he put his hands up and muttered just loud enough for Mac to hear.<br>"Ahhh, I'll come back later" and began to head for the door.  
>"Adam" Mac called after him<br>"Yes Boss?"  
>"Tell us what you've found" and smiled reassuringly at him.<br>Jo felt a sudden relief, she had more time to think things through, and Mac had time to think things through. She closed her eyes for a moment and recalled every last detail and emotion she felt while they kissed. How her heat beated in a synchronized pattern with his as they raced through passion, love and pride. How her soul had turned into fireworks as their lips moulded perfectly to each other.  
>She quietly slipped out of his office, while Adam was explaining about the rare type of fibre found at the last crime scene.<br>Jo crept to her office and folded down on the floor. Mac could never love someone as much as he loved his wife Claire, dead or alive. From the glance of the photograph Jo saw that Claire was beautiful, the most beautiful woman. Over time Jo had grown closer to Mac, her feelings grew every time she saw him or hear his sweet voice and she couldn't bear to loose him. He was breaking her heart.  
>Mac finished his conversation with Adam, and Adam turned to leave<br>"Adam"  
>"Yes Boss?"<br>"Next time, knock please"  
>"Sure thing Boss" Adam smiled and went out.<br>None of the team fully knew what was happening between their bosses, although there had been rumors and office gossip. Now Adam knew for sure.

-0-

There was a team meeting as Adam closed the last case; Mac handed out some reports to Danny, Lindsey and Jo  
>"Danny, you work with Adam on the DB found In Madison Square Park" and handed him an additional note with a phone number and an address scrawled on in Flack's handwriting "Flack did some digging, start with these" he added "Lindsey, you work with Sheldon" he smiled "children involved so tread carefully"<br>"I always do" Lindsey said, she smiled to Mac and she walked towards the door.  
>"Jo, you got one on your own, Simple burglary in the corner shop on East 23rd street. Perps got away in a blacknavy blue SUV registered..." he stopped and just handed her the note. "Lieutenant Harper was the first on the seen, he wrote some notes down for you" Mac handed her an additional note.

-0-

A note, left on his desk, had summoned Mac here. His heart pounded irregularly when he looked at it. He was full of hope; It can't be a hoax, He thought. He recognised that neat curvy handwriting anywhere, Claire's.  
>The note had simply said, meet by the opera house 12 - noon. So following his heart instead of his head he went. He knew what he was doing, this made him feel slightly hypercritical; Mac was forever telling the team to follow their heads. No case they'd ever worked was like this. Claire's name had been put on the death toll, even although she was never found.<br>Mac began to feel excited. SHE WASN'T DEAD! His heart jumped at the thought and a tear of happiness cascaded down his cheek, without warning his excitement and happiness collided with anger. They were in love! How could she do this to him? Leave, with no word and be assumed dead by everyone. She had dishonoured all the innocent people that were killed on the tragic day of 9/11. Like a heat wave, the guilt pounded over him. She didn't leave him by choice, he concluded. The Claire he knew wasn't like that; She wouldn't have faked her own death. Mac felt violently sick at the thought, perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all.

-0-

What was Mac playing at? Giving her the simple case. Jo wasn't in the best of moods and she got into her police enforcement car, she wanted to work the suspicious DB with Danny, rather than go on a goose chase for some silly kids.  
>Being mad with him wasn't doing her any good so she tried a different tactic, she sighed at the thought of their kiss. A happiness passed over her as a rainbow in stormy weather brightened up the sky.<br>On arrival Jo saw the damage the perpetrator had caused, the large windows, smashed. There were at least 10 bullet holes in the door. It was amazing that no one was hurt. She got her kit and walked toward the store, and began fingerprinting the door and the register.  
>Suddenly she snapped upright a little to quickly and the contents of her kit went flying, some luminol chemiluminescence escaped from its container and turned a florescent pink, indicating that blood had been recently been on the floor, lots of it. This case was starting to unfold; perhaps some poor soul had been injured, or worse, in the burglary after all.<br>Jo looked up at the officer who had come in because of the noise. He was large, well-built and defined, short black hair and brown eyes.  
>He looked around before he acted on what he'd seen. Pink Florescence, Damit! That's what has busted him last time.<br>The officer stepped in a small puddle of the blood indicating formulae, suddenly pick rose up his non-standard uniform boots.  
>Jo knew something was wrong.<p>

-0-

Suddenly he saw her again, he felt sick to the stomach, dizzy, and his heart pounded at a rate he wasn't even sure was possible. His facial expression was of that if he'd seen a ghost. It was Claire.  
>As she saw him, they ran towards each other and embraced, tears rolled down their cheeks.<br>Mac and Claire held each other for a long while, speechless. Mac couldn't believe the events that unravelled before him and Claire didn't know where to begin explaining.  
>"Mac…" Claire said in her velvet soft voice, her eyes were full of sorrow, she hadn't meant to end it that way, she hadn't intended on 'dying'.<br>He looked down at her, so many emotions rose through his soul without any encouragement.  
>"Claire." He said in a more stern voice.<br>And with that she tugged him to a bench and tried to explain. "Oh, Mac, I have been thinking about this day for so long and now I don't know how to begin," She whispered and then waited to see if Mac would respond but he swallowed keeping all his emotions locked away. Something of which was very difficult, as he had never held them back whilst with Claire.  
>She respected his privacy and took a deep breath. "September 11th 2001…" a tear rolled down her cheek "I got out" she managed again<br>Mac was growing inpatient now and the expression on his face change to look that way. Claire looked at him and took hold of his hand.  
>"I can see that" Mac then clenched his teeth as afraid that he might say something else he'd live to regret<br>" After I was rescued, for the second time, I saw a man, dressed as a fire fighter trying to dump a body in amongst the rubble." She paused for a second to let Mac take it in "I… Did something stupid, Mac." He looked at her " He caught me looking at him" Two more tears ran a river down her cheek. "He ran over to me, and picked me up,"  
>It didn't look out of the ordinary, a fire fighter saving someone from a tragic event, Mac thought.<br>Mac gulped, he could see where this was going.

She kissed Mac tenderly, it felt like a day had not have passed…


	4. The Past

Chapter 4

Mac pulled away suddenly. He looked at Claire, trying to read her, but nothing came to him.

"What happened to you?" Mac asked gently, his eyes looked over her, except he saw nothing that indicated a recent abduction. She was perfect in every way, she didn't look like she'd aged a day, her pale olive skin was smooth, like he'd always remembered, her hair was soft and shining, and her lips were rounded perfectly. He felt deep with sorrow, if he'd known she was still alive, he wouldn't have given up looking for her.

However that wasn't entirely that fair on him either, and that was what pained him the most out of this horrific situation, he never did give up on looking for her. He had joined a private DNA lab to identify the 9/11 victims only last summer and taken a leave of absence from the crime lab to help find closure to the victim's families, Mac was searching for closure too.

"I….I…" Claire took a deep breath "I was abducted for two years" she looked down, she knew what Mac would think.

Claire was sent back to the day she was abducted from that tragedy of twin towers falling.

Claire had fallen again, as a second plane collided with the second tower, and she was on the ground. Her head throbbed, some falling rubble had hit her but it wasn't too bad. She looked around, not many people where moving. She slowly got up and dived to the nearest person, she started feeling for a young pregnant woman's pulse when she saw him. People were screaming, sirens were loudly going off and rubble was smashing to the floor. With all this chaos, she focused on this man. What was he doing!

There was a dead body, covered in blood, being dumped onto the rubble site, the poor soul didn't die as a result of the worlds trade centre falling, he has a gun shot wound to his left temple and another through his right hand. Claire knew this was wrong; She hailed a paramedic to the woman lying beneath her and watched in amazement as some more rubble fell off of the unstable buildings and fell onto the body that had been dumped. There was only one answer for this fireman's behaviour. He wasn't a real fire fighter. She took some steps towards him when he saw her. There was another body he was carrying. He knew she had seen what had been going on, he had to have her. He had to silence her.

The man in the fire fighters suit raced over to her. A sickening pulse began to run through Claire as she watched this beast take advantage of a tragic situation.

A window smashed and Glass hit the ground along with many people ducking for cover, including Claire. The man in the fire fighter's suit was not bothered by the glass and pounded towards her. He carried her out, behind a fire truck and into a van. This was the last time anyone saw 'Claire Taylor'

She snapped out of the memory, the things that happened after were far worse, she blocked her mind from diving deep into the memories, and they were now locked safely away.

"Mac. After I was rescued, from Detourus and the rest of the gang, they told me I couldn't go back to anyone that I had met as 'Claire'"

Mac screwed his face up slightly "you're in witness protection?"

Claire nodded. "My name is Katherine Conrad… I took my maiden name."

"Who ever was in charge must have been corrupt" Mac concluded, "You should have made that decision yourself, no one else."

A tear rolled down Katherine's cheek, she knew this would hurt him but she had to tell him. "I did, Mac"

Katherine remembered her rescue and began to tell Mac.

"Detourus, as I now know him was one of Mannings' gang. He was the dirty scum that came and did what ever he pleased to me, whenever he felt like it. He was my one of my kidnappers… I was transported to Montana where a group of local police had been monitoring their gang's movements. Manning's and his crew were involved in a large scale printing scandal. Along with other, more horrific crimes" Katherine shuddered at the memory." Katherine paused and wiped the tears away "Mac, I did something… really… Awful"

Mac's emotions were already pounding at the surface, he wasn't sure how much of this pain and suffering he could take. She was captured for two years, which was awful but that still meant that she did not contact him for 8 years. Inwardly he wept, he shouted, he raged. He looked at Katherine knowing that there was more still to come.

"Mac there is so much to tell you, can't we talk over dinner or something?"

Mac remembered her charm well; this was what she always did to get her way with Mac, for once it hadn't worked.

"No Claire…" He paused, remembering "No Katherine" he corrected himself. If it hadn't have been for what happened between Jo and him the other night maybe he would have leapt at the chance. But through out his conversation with Katherine he realised how much Jo had come to mean to him over the last 2 years that she had been working at the NY crime lab.

Katherine understood his answer, but it made her struggle to find the right words to construct what she really needed to say.

"On 9/11 I was pregnant." She suddenly bust out.

-0-

Jo turned around to look at the officer who had kept getting closer to her.

"Excuse me," Jo said as calmly as she could manage "your contaminating the crime sce…." Before she could complete her sentence the large figure grabbed her from behind and gagged her with a dirty white cloth. And snatched her gun, and placed it in his trousers. He pulled on her hair, Jo winced in pain but she bit down on her lip so as not to let out a sound, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Harshly, Jo was dragged across the store to the basement. The surroundings were dusty, the room was lit but barely with a small low energy bulb that looked like it was on its last legs the light flickered every 20 seconds or so. It looked like no one had been down here in years, the dust was undisturbed except for his footprints and her drag marks they had just made. The air was stingy and it smelt of mothballs. The beast threw Jo across the room and she lay on the floor, she picked her self and lent against the wall for support. As Jo took a deep breath, she found it hard not to cough, the air was thick with dust and the particles tickled her throat. He tore off her police issued belt, and handcuffed her hands behind her back. And put the key in his pocket.

The beast, as she was now calling, picked up the phone

"Yeah, its me. What da ya want? Yeah. No.. I have a lit-tle sit-u-a-tion here. I'll meetcha there"

The Large beast cursed out loud and turned on Jo. He drew his hand and swung seconds later he planted his fist into the side of her cheek. Jo clenched her teeth so as not to make a sound, instead silent tears formed, no matter how hard she tried to blink them back, a few escaped her grasp.

"Well this IS fun" he chuckled in a harsh, rough voice. "You're not going to dump my ass in jail again!" He viciously growled at her again.

She did not, to say the least, understand any of this.

-0-

Mac took some deep breaths to take in what was being said.

"We have a Boy, Mac" Katherine grinned at him. "I have another child too, a daughter, Nicola, she's 6"

In some ways this made Mac even more frustrated, she still hadn't really explained where she had been for the last 8 Years, surely she should have seen him, if not because they loved each other but for the sake of their child, even Jo had told him, he'd make a great father. It was true; Mac would be a great father.

All of his emotions surfaced at once, not because he wanted to open up to Katherine, he didn't, but because so much had happened from the last 48hours it was physically impossible to hold them down any longer, he put his head in his hands and rubbed his forehead.

Katherine saw the frustrated look on Mac's face and tried to explain.

"The police told me it would be to dangers to come back to New York, The really awful thing was, I fell in love again with my hero Sergeant Rogers, whiteout seeing you," Tears cascaded down her cheeks but she carried on "Nick fathered my third child Nicola. He was a great father; he helped me bring James up too…" she trailed off. This pained her the most. "Nick and I moved away from Montana and lived in Tennessee for nearly 8 years" She swallowed and looked down as tears flooded her eyes, "he died on duty."

Mac sat up and faced her, "What's his name?" Mac asked tenderly

"James McKenna Taylor… I wouldn't have let them change his name, he has his fathers name." There was a moment's pause and then she continued, "I gave birth, while I was…" Katherine stopped for a breath; she didn't like this memory "While I was in Montana… Until we were found and rescued by my hero, Sergeant Nicholas Rogers, James didn't grow properly, he is fine now though, although he has asthma."

"Can I... Can I see him?" Mac managed to squeeze out without letting his emotions become a firework display for everyone to see.

Katherine Smiled, "Of course, Mac"

Mac glanced at his watch, although he wanted to talk to Katherine forever about James, he really had to get back to work.

"Cl…Katherine" Mac smiled at his constant errors "Katherine, I'm really sorry, but I can't spend too long away from work, I have some reports to finish, you know how it is."

She gave him her fond smile, "You always were married to your job," she teased. "Speaking of which…Technically, you and I are still married"

A pain stretched across Mac's chest and his emotions began to rise again.

Did she want to give it another go? Mac thought. He closed his eyes and sighed. He looked at her as she kissed him, he turned so the kiss was planted on his cheek.

"You've found somebody else, haven't you" Katherine winced slightly

"It's been 10 years Cl…Katherine." Mac protested, "I thought you were dead, everyone did"

-0-

The Beast had been gone for at least half an hour or so, Jo began to feel less lightheaded and so she crawled around in the dust to find anything that could help her escape. All she did was unsettle the dust further thickening what was already in the air, which sent her into a coughing fit.

It was now she thought of Mac, if it were true; if Claire had survived 9/11, she wanted Mac to choose her, it was a tall order she had to admit, but she wanted him, she wanted him to love her. She recalled the first time there souls connected, not that either of them realised it at the time but she was sure now that it was. After the first case they solved together, they stood on the roof of a tall building in the middle of New York. Mac had said "Thinkin of quitin already?" and she replied with "Hell no."

Jo remembered every detail of the night she'd spent with Mac, like she had done in her office earlier that same day. She closed her eyes to capture everything in her memory. How their lips brushed past each other, teasing each other. Mac embraced her and she felt she belonged there, in his arms. They kissed gently and tenderly at first but it drove into a more passionate, intense kiss where their tongues danced with each other. The world outside them became a blur and seemed unimportant. There senses heightened their feelings. Their emotions exploded as the spark they had ignited into a roaring flame, bighting their souls and filling their hearts with love and pride.

-0-

Mac arrived back at the lab and he finished finalising his last report to send to the DA's office, he hadn't stopped thinking about the last two days.

Adam walked past his glass window

"Adam!" He shouted

Adam turned round and pointed at himself with his thumb "Me Boss?"

"You're the only Adam that works here," Mac said abruptly

Adam nervously stepped into the Boss's office.

"Adam, have you seen Jo around?" Mac asked him.

Adam smiled with relief; he never liked being summoned to Mac's office, "No Boss, I haven't seen her since she left this morning"

"Ok, thanks Adam"

Mac checked his watch as Adam walked out it was 16:00 hours, 4pm. That's weird, Mac thought, Jo only had a simply burglary to go to.

Mac thought of the night Jo had stayed at his apartment, of how good she looked in his shirt. Mac smiled to himself. He also wanted to remember every detail, he wanted to feel it all over again, he missed Jo, he'd pushed her away, Mac hoped it wasn't too late, he hoped that she had not changed her mind. Please, he thought, I think I love you.

There wasn't anything left to do while he was still on the clock, so he thought he would re-read one of his cold cases. He reminded himself of Jo again and last night, she was about the only one that had ever managed to pull him away from work. The Cold cases were neatly stacked at the end of his desk and so he picked up the top one and began to read.

_Mathew Dobbs and Jack Cooper were both murdered a year ago in the south of Morningside Park. The closest CCTV showed a large, well built man walking from Morningside Park heading East bound to 5th avenue Suspect of the double murder and he was link to an unsolved fraud case; believed to be Lucas Detourus, ex-con_.

Where had Mac recently heard that name? He thought for a moment, Claire/Katherine had mentioned someone called Detourus. He rubbed he forehead and then briefly looked through the assignments and spotted it again. It was the name of the officer that was assigned to protect Jo! Mac dashed to his computer where he searched in AFIS and the figure came up, the same person as on the CCTV, he then searched the police database, no results found Officer Detourus

Panic struck in his eyes he wasn't going to loose another woman to that beast, he wasn't going to loose Jo.


	5. Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 5

The beast had been back for no more than 10 minutes; he took the dirty rag away from Jo's mouth and scowled at her.

"This is all your fault" He spat "This wasn't part of the plan"

"Why don't you just let me go? Nobody knows anything," she tried. She moved her tongue around her mouth because now she could.

"They know alright." He clenched his teeth; he looked as if he were an angry cartoon, going red in the face and about to blow steam from his ears. "That Stupid bitch told them… I shoudda killed her then and there when I had the chance. She went runnin off to the police, I'll get her some day" he threatened and then got up and slid towards her. "And. That. Is. What. I'm-Going. To-Do. To. You." He roared with more emphasis on the final word. "But…" he said in a sarcastic playful way "I'm going to have some fun first." He roared with laughter and drew his fist back and forced it into Jo's jaw. He drew away and back again, except this time his beastly claws caught the side of her eye socket. She flinched before the third punch landed, and he threw himself into a fit of laughter. He punched a forth time, he put all his weight and strength into it and knocked Jo flying across the room, she was barely conscious and blood trickled from her nose, her head felt like it was splitting in two, and everything she saw became a blur. The Beast walked over and kicked Jo so hard and so many times she drifted out of consciousness.

-0-

Mac pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled Jo's number; he smiled, he'd learnt it by heart. It seemed to ring forever and the suspense was killing him. No answer.

He called again. No answer.

Mac ran to the conference room, where Danny, Lindsey and Sheldon were taking a break. Flack was there too, except he was there, still working.

"Mac?" Lindsey said, "Are you okay?"

Mac froze; this was a second for him, the person he loved was in danger, the words were on the tip of his tongue, but simply would not form.

Flack knew this Face, he had only been a sergeant in 2001, but he'd know Mac for a little while. Mac's face bared the same expression of 9/11 when he realised he may never see Claire again.

Flack stepped in

"Mac?" he said "Mac!"

"Has anybody seen Jo since she left this morning?" Mac said with cracked emotions in his voice.

"The small group looked at each other, as none of them had"

Flack looked at Mac again. The office rumours were true, Jo and Mac did have feelings for each other, but he kept it to himself.

Mac shook himself back to reality, panic fired across their faces as they realised something was terribly wrong.

Mac pulled out a Map of the City.

Mac got a red marker pen and circled Morningside Park and 5th Avenue,

"A year ago Lucas Detourus murdered two people here." And pointed to Morning side Park.

"It wasn't proven, though, was it boss?" Danny interrupted

"No it wasn't," Mac said trying to collect his thoughts. He was emotionally involved, he couldn't think straight. He rubbed his head and tried to continue.

"Jo went here this morning," he circled another location on the map.

"A simple robbery," Sheldon remembered.

"Maybe," Mac said and tilted his side to side slightly.

"The officer in charge of her safety wasn't registered in our database," He tried to explain as best he could but he was finding it difficult. "He is called Officer Detourus," as he looked back down at his notes.

The others looked a bit confused and worried, not worried so much for Jo, but worried for Mac.

"There could be another officer that has just transferred here," Flack suggested, attempting to calm his friend down.

"There's no time to explain," he protested as he thought about his other source of information, Claire... Katherine. Mac knew that if he was to say anything about the events earlier that day, they would all think he was mad."

"Ok well I'm off the clock now," Danny said, "I'll go to East 23rd street and find her, Okay"

Danny walked out of the room.

Mac nodded and looked down. He just wanted Jo back safely.

"Okay. Now, since you've closed your case Lindsey, do you mind helping me with one of the cold cases?"

"Yeah sure Mac" Lindsey smiled.

"I'll help" Flack said, he was worried about Mac.

Mac smiled as the others also agreed to help. Now Mac had said that some harm might come to Jo, they were all worried. Mac wasn't usually wrong and so they listened eagerly to see what they could do to help.

Mac said to Lindsey "Can you call the Montana police and get the evidence sent here?"

"How do you know?…"

"Lindsey…"

Lindsey sensed the urgency, "Yeah sure" and picked up the phone immediately. And went to a computer in search for the case number.

"We need to find out where Detourus is now." Mac said

"I'm on it" and Flack pulled out his phone and called in a favour with one of his work colleagues

"I'll see if I can find the fraud links he had with New York when he was here"

Adam walked in. "Wow. Busy in here" Adam smiled.

"Adam, have you solved your case?" Mac looked at him.

"Yes Boss," He said proudly "Almost all on my own too, Danny's gone haywire…" he lifted his arms to gesture he didn't know where Danny was. "The perpetrator was this big dude called…"

"We've got a new case," Mac said coldly

"Detourus" Adam finished the room went quiet, Mac nodded at him for him to continue, "I couldn't find Flack to bring him in so I called the PD and they said they were already looking for him"

Mac was suddenly interested "what are the details?"

"Samuel Carter, was shot 18 times through a window and possibly a door, we found glass partials and wood fragments in him down at autopsy. TOD was about 24-48 hours ago. We haven't found the primary crime scene but we found a gun, 50 feet away from the body it was registered to a Lucas Detourus. Samuel Carter's body was dumped in a gardens half buried, the address was… errrh… Madison Square Park I think.

"That's three Blocks away from East 23rd street." Mac thought out loud, although he hadn't intended to speak. " Is there anything else?"

Adam screwed his face a little to remember, "Oh, yeah, on the body we found a hair, finger prints along with Spit, DNA. They all belonged to Lucas Detourus."

After he'd finished speaking there was along pause, the silence was taunting him slightly, "What?" He said as finally not able to think.

Suddenly it clicked "Where's Jo?" Adam said, stunned.

"We don't know" Mac said.

-0-

And for that matter did Jo didn't know where she was either. She finally managed to drift out of the darkness. She way lying on her side with one arm above her head and the other by her chest, her position reminded her of a body dump, her handcuffs were off, not that it would do any good, she was too weak to fight him not. As she opened her eyes the light was bright and she saw a blurry figure standing with his back to her.

"Where are we?" she wheezed and then the dust was still in her lungs and she spluttered and began to cough uncontrollably

She head that laugh again, it made he skin crawl. She then automatically regretted she'd spoken as a large boot dived into her stomach. At least when she was unconscious she couldn't feel anything. The beast was standing over her now.

"Never you mind." He said sharply and planted his boot into her ribs.

While she had been unconscious the beast had move her. She didn't know how long she'd be out for, she didn't know where she was and she had no concept of the time. Jo thought of Mac again, she wondered if he'd even realised she'd gone or whether he'd found Claire and forgotten their short burst of passion.

This place was much larger than the shops basement, by far. The air was cleaner and she could breath more easily, if for the fact that every time she tried to take a deep breath for courage or because she felt she had to, she was kicked with great force. As her vision improved it became apparent that they were in the corner of an old warehouse of some form. She looked up as far as she could, there was a high ceiling, and several windows high up, a slight light was dimly fading from the room this meant it was nearly night.

She crawled up to a sit and lent against a wooden beam for support. He hit her again and again, crying with joy.

"What makes you happy about beating a women senseless?" Jo had brought up so courage, she was strong, she wasn't going to just sit there and take it. She wanted him to stop, she was hurt, badly, and she wanted Mac.

He swung for her again; she was a human punching bag. He pulled Jo up by her clothes, which were now ripped and torn, bloody and wrecked. She was standing now; although it wasn't by choice she had become lightheaded because she'd gotten to her feet. His stance was that of a boxers and he teased his fists like a fighter in the ring does before he makes his knock out move.

"Just Fun" His most powerful punch yet planted straight into her abdomen, she was winded and so she fell, smashing her head on the beam and giving her whiplash and a concussion, she felt herself slip back to darkness, she went with a pleasant thought on her mind, Mac.

-0-

Danny entered the shop; the bullet holes in the door surprised him also. How did nobody get hurt in the burglary? He pushed his way through.

"Jo?" He shouted "Mac's worried about you." No answer. With out warning Danny felt a sickening twist in the pit of his stomach, Mac was never wrong. Jo was in danger. Danny looked down on the floor, the contents of Jo's kit were spread around, Danny stepped forwards lifting a loose floorboard slightly and the remaining contents of the luminol chemiluminescence rolled once again, revealing the truth about what actually happened the night of the burglary. Somebody was hurt during the burglary and that is when he remembered his own case; the man had been shot 18 times. He turned round and counted 22 in the door and 4 in the window, and so he put his rubber gloves on and went in search for stray bullets.

Bingo! He found one lodged in the wall opposite the door, he pulled out an evidence bag from his pocket and slipped it in.

Danny hastily put the new evidence sealed in his pocked and pulled out his mobile,

"Hey Flack, I have something that could link the burglary to the murder, yeah a bullet. Same caliber as the Madison Murder, The Morningside Murders too, I think. I'm gonna do a ballistics report when I get back to the lab. Yeah see you there." He hung up, smiled and looked down. We're getting closer to getting the guy, he thought and began to walk out.

He turned and walked over to Jo's kit as he didn't have his own, he grabbed a couple of sealed cotton buds. By the door there was a blood droplet and on the door handle there was a smear, he closed the lids and looked around with forensics in mind. There was a small yellow flower just outside the door, he picked it up and put it in another evidence bag. As he walked out, his only hope was that he could help find Jo before... He didn't want to think

-0-

Jo had just worked her was back into reality, her head was throbbing, her jaw ached, her cheek was sore, she had a split lip, her ribs gave her immense pain and she had a stomach ach from hell. It had gone dead quiet and she wasn't going to alert him that she had re surfaced.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door and the beast jumped up, out of his spot and went to investigate. Moments later he reappeared with another person, a woman. She couldn't see much because of the poor lighting, and she couldn't focus on anything it was as if her eyes had simply given up.

Jo was bleeding on the floor as her eyes came to focus, she could taste the blood leaking from her mouth. Jo had to squint, which gave her a shock of pain as torchlight was harshly pushed into her face. The beast and the women were kissing. Jo found it hard to believe that the beast could feel anything but love and passion.

The woman looked vaguely familiar to Jo; her olive skin, her strawberry blond hair even the way she smiled. Jo was going nuts and in that thought she closed her eye and thought of Mac. It was then realised who the mystery woman was.

It was Claire.

_**Thank you to those reading, I'm new at this and this is my first story. Thanks to all that have sent me kind reviews and I hope you enjoyed my most recent chapter. I have a basic idea of where the story is going, but feel free to share your own ideas as I'm open to suggestions. **_

**_Thank-you again please R&R (: (I hope that means Read & Review)_  
><strong>


	6. Plan B

Chapter 6

The beast stood there, looking over Jo, as she half lay half sat leaning against the wooden beam. He glanced at beautiful Katherine, but he knew there was something wrong.

"Katherine, hunny?" his voice was still cold and harsh, except he was different with her, there wasn't a bruise on her for a start.

Katherine knelt down and scowled at her love- rival. What the hell! She thought to herself.

Jo looked up at her, pleading her to help. She had a sudden happiness flow through her; Mac was here maybe? They had found her! She shook the thought from her, no, that wasn't right. And so she started exhausting the other possibilities, perhaps she wasn't Claire. This woman kissed him. A sense of pure revolt rose from deep within; she fought back the urge to vomit and swallowed hard. It was then reality hit, Katherine spat on Jo, this woman hadn't come as part of the rescue; she was the one making orders.

The Beast laughed and thought back to the day of Claire's rescue. It was a peculiar day. Bingo, the boss, was beating up their spirits with words of wealth and status. The prospect was hard to believe; in just a few short hours they were going to be one of the richest organisations in the world! Or that's what they thought. They weren't the brightest group of criminals, The Beast could see that now, they would have in fact caused hyperinflation. If the plan had succeeded, America would have been about to go into another economic down turn, thankfully the forged notes never made it out into the world, the were stack neatly in black leather bags.

Bingo, of the gang terrified everyone, and he was by far the cruellest one out of them. He was the one who always insisted on having 'special alone time with Claire' he knew what was going on and he couldn't prevent it. Until that day, their only vulnerable window was when the money was being escorted out of the building, along with Claire and a few others they had detained over the years. It another abandoned warehouse, in Montana.

This had been why The Beast had fallen out with his fellow gang members; he had been the week link. His mind took his back further, to September 11th 2001. After Bingo had been on a killing spree in New York, it was the Newbie who had to deal with the evidence. He panicked when he saw Claire, the look on her face told him every thing, she'd figured out it wasn't right.

He didn't want to drag her into all of this but he'd left himself with no choice. His perfect opportunity came quickly when a window smashed under the pressure of the falling tower. He ran to her, this is where his disguise had come in handy, what a genius idea? Being a fire fighter, he thought to himself. He had to put the struggling woman in his van and drive to the gang; her involvement had been his choice entirely.

Her rescue was his doing too; he called the police an hour before the scheduled time to move the women and the hundreds of billions of forged dollars. The Local police had sent every emergency service to the location and waited for the event to take place.

The Police had given him a lighter time in prison, but still, it was prison. It was a school for criminals to mix and educate themselves with new methods of crimes. He had learnt much since those days, and now he was a beast, he knew it and didn't care.

Katherine thought back to earlier that day, she'd lied to Mac, something she'd never done before and she found it surprisingly easy. She wanted him to feel sorry for her, she wanted to hear his sympathy and feel a sense of belonging in his arms once again.

-0-

A whole 24 hours had passed since Jo was last seen, and Mac was going crazy. He called Tyler and Ellie to let them know what had happened, and they rushed to the NYPD Crime Lab so they would be the first to know of any developments.

The good news was that they were finally getting somewhere with the evidence that Danny collected yesterday.

The bullet was a match in ballistics to the gun and the shooting at Madison Square Park. Danny also dug deeper, and found that it was also a match to the Morning Side Murders.

The blood droplet on the floor was a match to Lucas Detourus. He was there.

At that point in the night, Danny had been pulled away from the blood analysis to help Mac and Sheldon on identifying the flower. Flowers were a good source at finding a location, you just had to look deep enough and they'd tell you the story.

In EDNA they found that the flower was a type of Chrysanthemum, with a little bit of research Danny saw that this wild Dicentra Chrysantha, had started to grow in and around New York, but the sudden outbursts had primarily started on Roosevelt island. The environmental conditions were unique and so the nutrients the flower absorbs were able to pin point exactly where it had come from. The land history was originally landscaping, Danny read, with frequent flooding the land became more fertile where wild flowers grew.

Danny closed his eyes and let out a sigh, frustrated that the strong lead they had was fading away. He kicked back from the computer desk and went to see Mac. Danny was confused, he'd never seen Mac quiet so damaged by the prospect of loosing some one.

"Mac," Danny spread a fake smile across his face, in the attempt to comfort him slightly. "We'll find her."

"What if its already too late?" His sad eyes looked at Danny. Danny wasn't sure what to say next,

"There's nothing in the evidence that encourages us to believe that"

Lindsay burst in with flack with a large box,

"They didn't want to send it over so I went straight down there and picked it up" Lindsey dumped in on Mac's desk.

"You went all the way down to Montana?"

"Yeah. Didn't you wonder where I was?" she looked down in embarrassment at her poor choice of words.

"Well anyway one of the guys owed me a favour and he pulled some strings, so here it is"

Mac picked it up hastily and carried in to a free lab where he then placed it on a presentation table. Inside there were traces from what was in Claire's hair that day, and from under her fingernails, there was an SAE kit, but Mac refused to have it opened. There were police reports, witness protection files, the clothes that Claire had been wearing, she same blouse she had on when she went missing. There were other women's person files too, Claire had not been the only one, Mac realised.

Mac picked up the blouse; he remembered Claire and him buying it. She'd got a promotion at work and insisted on going in looking like a boss, even though she hadn't reached that far yet in her career.

Sheldon picked up a file and read out her name,

"Claire Taylor" he breathed.

And with that they all turned to look at Mac. It was no use now, he was going to have to explain everything to them and so slowly he began to tell the unimaginable turn of events.

-0-

Considering the circumstances, Jo was feeling much better, although she wasn't strong enough to even move she held onto the last chance at life, one more knock and she knew I'd be over for good.

Katherine was gone; she and the Beast were alone once more except it was different, she could see it in his eyes, he felt remorse.

"Let me go, please" she whimpered knowing that this could provoke, and ultimately kill her.

"I can't," he replied and looked down at a nail in the floor. With out any warning he stood up.

Fear cut into Jo, she now was just waiting to die.

"Don't…" He paused, as he turned away, "Your not going anywhere" and walked out angrily.

Jo had managed to get some sleep but she was exhausted. Her stomach growled ferociously, she hadn't eaten in a while, but what was more painful, was her thirst, she tried to stay awake and not pass out from dehydration. Mac came into her thoughts, she was just about to let go and give into her body's demands of conciseness even though she knew what it meant.

_(Ring Ring… Ring Ring)_

It was her cell, she lifted her head slightly, wincing in pain, to see if she could detect where it was coming from. It wasn't far away; just opposite her was a wooden structure, which she assumed was to keep the place steady. It was balanced on a beam.

Damit! Her limbs wouldn't move. What was she thinking? It might as well be on the other side of the moon, she still wouldn't be able to reach it.

Thankfully the ringing had stopped by the time The Beast came back. In some plastic bags he carried, were some bottle of water and a plain cheese sandwich.

"I have a new plan" and his Grin went from ear to ear.

Oh God! Jo thought.

_(Ring Ring… Ring Ring)_

Damit! The phone was off again. He watched in fascination as her face turned to horror.

"I said I've got a new plan," he repeated.

He let the phone ring; once it had stopped he retrieved it and flipped it open.

"Well somebody's missing you," he stated happily, realising plan B would run smoothly "Mac Taylor has rang you, oh, 25 times" He brought the phone to Jo's eye level so she could see "that's once every hour" he looked into her eyes and saw the pain she felt she was splitting her heart in two.

"Well anyway, sandwich?" he asked.

Her eyes darted to the water and in response he nodded with understanding.

"Water first," he shrugged, "OK."

He opened the cap of the water and poured some into her mouth, she'd never known water to feel so good. Inside she felt herself strengthen, although only a little bit physically, emotionally and mentally, she believed she'd get out of here, She'd see Mac again. The thought of seeing him brightened her soul so much a single tear warmed her cheek.

-0-

Mac glanced over the report Sheldon had read Claire's name from; it was his Claire all right, there was no doubt about that. Except on the official report it stated Name: Claire Taylor, Marital status: Single Suddenly this unsettled his emotions like an unexpected firework.

At that moment, many heads turned, Katherine came into the lab with a little boy of about 10.


	7. Ransom

Chapter 7

After Jo had feasted, well eaten very slowly and in excruciating pain, The Beast cleaned up her cuts with a damp cloth. Her cuts weren't that extensive she was manly badly buried.

The plan was now, for the beast to take care of her, sort of. He had to make her believe that at least, but on the other hand she couldn't die either, not when there is a profit to be made. The beast realised he could make a new life for himself and Katherine. He'd do it with the power of Mac and Jo's love, granted it wasn't very nice. He took a moment to think, at the end of the day, he wasn't a very nice person, not anymore. In his life too many things had gone belly up, too many wrong decisions and turned away chances.

He flipped the water cap of the floor and watched it bounce. Jo was feeling sick, she was sure that something was wrong, she had not been told what plan B was, and it scared her. All she knew was that she wanted to see Mac again and her best chance of achieving that was being completely compliant to what he wanted. The beast had changed his attitude completely, to start with, she was sure that he had intended to kill her, and she was sure that it was her thoughts about Mac that kept her alive. He had dealt with so much already; she wanted to make him happy.

She wondered how he was, if he was worried about her and she hoped that he'd be the first one she saw as she got out of this hellhole… Then it struck her, the first 72 hours are the most crucial in an abduction case and she didn't know how much time had passed by. What if she never got out? What if they'd run out of evidence? What if he'd given up? Jo suddenly regretted this Job, she didn't want to know the statistics, the chances, she wanted only hope.

She thought back to the night they were supposed to eat at the Italian restaurant, the pain she saw in his eyes pained her. She didn't ever want to see pain like that in anyone that she loved. Jo couldn't help thinking that she was jealous, Claire could be out there with Mac, her husband, playing happy families. She then felt a complete emptiness; she was beginning to think that was possible. Nobody was going to find her here.

-0-

Mac stood in his glass office for a short while; his eyes followed Katherine and the boy in amazement, much like the rest of the lab's. He'd said he wanted to see James, but realistically he'd meant in time. He of course wanted to meet his son; he was just so busy with work. Now with what he felt was his own life on the line, it was too soon.

Katherine knew exactly what she was doing; it was part of her plot. In many respects she did feel guilty for the way she'd left Mac after she was rescued, by saying that James's father was a one-night thing. However as soon as she saw Nicholas, she had to have him. Just like now, she had to have Mac.

Katherine smiled at him through the glass and ruffled James' hair up slightly.

"Hey" she said in her velvet soft voice, "I'm sorry it's taken me so many years to tell you… This is your son James"

She turned slightly to James "You remember what I told you, James?"

"Yes Mom" he nodded defiantly to show he'd tried hard not to forget.

"Hello James," Mac sad kindly as James looked into his eyes. James had his father's eyes in every way.

Katherine looked up at Mac, "Look I'm really sorry to drop this on you so late. I wish I'd told you earlier, you had a right to know…" A tear rolled down her cheek

The tear was partly true emotion; the rest was in vain, she was jealous of Jo. She was using her son to get at Mac and lower his defences, and by all accounts it was working.

The truth of the matter was, Jo and Mac had not been a couple when Katherine spotted them in the crowd last year, she could have simply gone up to Mac and he would have more than likely taken her back, after all he did love her. Jo and Mac had been Christmas shopping, he'd never really got the idea of window-shopping but it was a night out with a close friend.

When Katherine and James came in Mac did wonder about his decision, was it wrong for him to leave his wife and child, especially what they have been put through? On the other hand he felt more for Jo than anyone one else. Of course he wasn't going to abandon his son or Katherine, if anything she abandoned him.

Katherine burst out in tears, Mac wasn't stupid, there was something about her now that he didn't sense 10 years ago. He sensed alternate motive but he had no idea what she was really up to. She had a darkness, something evil hidden about her. He found himself engaging in an awkward hug, not for himself, not for Katherine, mainly because he didn't want his son to think his daddy was an arse.

-0-

Overseeing all of this Adam also felt the sudden desperateness from this woman. Adam didn't even know who she was until Flack filled him in earlier that day.

Mac came out of his office with his son, according to Lindsey he had the Dad shock look, as she'd seen it many times with Danny when she gave birth to Lucy. Mac looked quite confused in many respects, after all this had come as rather of a shock and to be honest it was not the ideal situation to suddenly be blessed with fatherhood.

The team in the office were generally getting a familiar feeling about Katherine, they all thought she didn't seem that nice, a feeling they get when the encounter criminals, they did not like it.

Mac went down the hall with James to the vending machines, trying to make a good first impression and bond with his son. The plan was working; Katherine has successfully stopped Mac from working on the case. He was never going to work out was going on! Katherine smiled to herself; she took great pleasure with this thought. Slyly, she pressed the fake call button on her phone in her pocket; after it'd rung she put it to her ear. "Hello. Yes, No no, not really. What do you mean?" She put on a serious tone, "Right" now she looked slightly angry, "I'll be right there."

Katherine went over to Mac, "Mac I'm really sorry about this, Nicholas' parents are being over dramatic and freaking out. Sometimes happens when Nicola's there with them. Do you mind if I leave James with you? I mean you won't be in the way will you sweetheart?" and stoked through his hair, "It not a good place for James," She explained, "James' isn't related. You know how it is." She looked into Mac's eyes. "Its just not fair"

The final words she said were true but they had a different meaning completely.

How could Mac turn her down? He knew something was wrong, very wrong, but he couldn't let Katherine know that.

"Sure, if you'd like that buddy?" he looked down to James

"urh huh. Okay," he said nodding his head.

"Okay, see you later Katherine then," Mac said

Just as swiftly as she'd come, she was gone.

Just because he had other responsibilities he couldn't just ignore his work, his top priority was still finding Jo, maybe he needed to get in priorities straight but he could shake the way he felt. Bad timing, he thought to himself. 'There's no such thing as a coincidence,' as he'd often say to his team when they were trying to solve a case. This was the key.

"Adam," Mac called over. Adam came scuttleing quickly. "Yes Boss"

"This is James" Mac stated.

Adam looked at the small boy; he had dark mousey brown hair, blue green eyes, and a perfect button nose.

"He's… erhh…" He hadn't said it out loud yet, "He's my son."

This was a lot for Adam to take in, but he listened closely.

"I have something I have to do quickly. Do you mind looking out for James?" Mac looked down at James, " I won't be long" and then smiled.

"Erhhh, no sure boss."

"Okay James, I have some people I'd like you to meet" James nodded and Mac introduced James to the team, Ellie and Tyler who were still waiting. Mac had a lot of explaining to do, especially to them.

Mac swiftly went to see if his hunch was correct. He felt bad for leaving James with them although he knew he wouldn't be very long. Katherine had just made it very inconvenient for him.

-0-

Adam was fooling around with James in the conference room, who was intelligent for a 9 year old.

"What's that?" He said pointing at a polygraph.

"That tells us who tells the truth and who lies" Adam said with a funny voice for the word 'lies'

"Its bad to lie," James told Adam "mommy lies lots"

"She does?" Adam asked, "Come with me a minute." From where James was sitting on the desk, Adam picked him up and put him on the floor, and took him to a lab.

"Wanna see something cool?"

"Yeah!" James smiled and nodded eagerly.

"This here is a clever computer," Adam said as if he were telling a story. "It knows what my special numbers and what my code is, It doesn't have an eye but it know what I look like…"

James looked at the computer with interest.

" My numbers are the same Allies I have in common with my parents, some are similar to my mom's and my dad's it shows that we are related."

"We did a bit about that at school." James said. "Why some children have the same colour hair as their parents,"

"Do you wanna see your code?" James hadn't got to do that at school so he grinned and nodded.

Adam got a cotton bud and put it in his own mouth, then gave one to James who mimicked him exactly.

Adam then cut the buds off and put them in the appropriate tubes, "Watch this"

Adam selected James's DNA on the computer and then pressed, "Search relatives".

If James were indeed Mac's son it would show up, everyone in Law enforcement was on the Database.

-0-

The beast grabbed Jo's phone and thrust it in her face.

"Call him" He spat. Oh god, Jo panicked. She was still weak and could not take another beating. One more punch last time, she was sure it would have been lights out for her. Was he changing his mind again?

She dialled his number and waited for it to ring. The beast then shoved a piece of paper in her face.

"Read it! And be Quick!"

"Hello? Jo? Are you ok? Where are you?" Suddenly Mac answered and she was flooded with questions. She grinned, just because she heard his voice

"Hi Mac." She hadn't used her voice for a while and she felt a tingling in her throat. It wasn't on the paper so a gun was shot. The bullet was fired into the ceiling and then the gun was pointed at Jo.

"Jo?" Mac said in an extremely worried tone.

Jo took a second to read the paper.

"JO?" Mac shouted down the phone in a panic.

"I am being held hostage, I am fine." Jo could hear Mac eagerly listen on the other end of the phone; her voice alone told him that she certainly wasn't fine.

Jo continued, "Please deliver…" Jo swallowed, she didn't want to read it out loud, and she didn't want Mac to hear. "Please deliver One Million dollars to the junction of West 30th Street and 12th Avenue by 7pm tonight, come alone, no tags no tracking devices, and no tricks otherwise you'll never see me again." Jo heard him stop breathing; she'd stopped breathing too.

Suddenly the phone was snapped out of Jo's hand and Mac was torn away from her again.

-0-

"Damit!" Mac threw his fist across his body in frustration. And then put his hand on his forehead. That conversation wasn't anywhere near long enough to trace the call, he'd had hawks try back at the lab, although it seemed forever when the gun was shot until she replied the call only lasted 36 seconds.

Mac had been trying to contact the other officers in Montana that would have dealt with Claire; he wanted the details about her witness protection so he was down at the precinct. Unfortunately he'd had no luck.

"Why don't you let the detectives do the detecting?" Flack said as he came into the room.

"You Okay?" Flack was concerned "Mac?"

Mac came out of his daydream and moved his hand from his face.

"I just spoke to Jo," He said

"Hey, that's great," Flack said "Where is she?"

"She'll be at the airport a 7pm"

"Come again?" Flack fully showed his New York accent in his confusion.

"I have to bring One Million Dollars to the Airport, alone. That Monster will kill her otherwise" He said quietly and he chocked out a few tears whilst Flack stood there in amazement, Mac never cried in front of people, Mac was always such a private man.

Flack sat down and looked at Mac, "you've fallen for her, haven't you?"

Mac wiped away his tears. "Yea" and smiled, he really had.

"So how are we going to get one million dollars?"

Mac looked at Flack he felt his emotions surfacing again, forced back more tears, and chocked "I don't know."


	8. 4 Hours

Chapter 8

Mac was now pacing, his anxiety had got the better of him. $1 million dollars was a lot to raise in 4 hours. He'd been back at the lab for all of 15 minutes and already he'd checked his bank, twice, spoken to a loans adviser and checked the department budget. God! Why did he have to give Jo that case, she didn't need any special treatment from him at work.

This was where it was tough being the boss when something goes pear shaped. Mac had lost the ability to think rationally, he didn't want to give himself any extra privileges that the team could not divulge into. Some of the equipment used in the lab wasn't exactly built for speed and he did want to improve things for his team, but at what cost? He wasn't going to loose the woman he loved over some silly DNA testing machine, or a set of higher spec computers. What would Mac be thinking if it'd been Lindsey taken? Mac of course had no idea that Jo was actually targeted. How would he have dealt with Danny? Would he take money out of the department budget to pay ransom for her safe return? Mac sat and rubbed his face.

Mac silently cursed Jo; she had been the one to make him update the Lab policy just last month, it did need doing its just now he'd declared that ransoms were not to be paid out with the department budget. The previous Lab policy on ransoms had a limit up to $500 000, but still it would have been a start. Nonetheless it would also nearly cripple the lab financially. Mac had only updated it because he'd intended on saving money, and he'd made a lot of changes. Mac put a worried expression on his face, if he was going to ask for the grant, he was going to have to talk to Sinclair.

James was restlessly kicking his legs whilst sat on the chocolate brown leather sofa in Mac's office; it wasn't the most of interesting places to be for a 9 year old. Katherine had said that she wouldn't be very long, however she'd already been 6 hours. James wanted to bond with his new dad but was almost scared of his frustration in the tense office.

To James' relief Tyler broke the awkward silence between Mac and the 9 year old. James and Ellie had not been told about the latest development, James was smart, he'd worked out that to save someone Mac loved he had to pay an awful amount of money, and Mac was struggling to come to terms with the fact. None of the Team except Flack had actually been brought to the awareness of this new development. Mac wanted to catch the criminal, not pay him!

"Hey Mac" Tyler said, "It's been a while since Ellie and I grabbed a bite to eat"

Immediately Mac took out his wallet from the inside pocket of his jacket and handed Tyler $20 "I'm sorry, my mind has been else where" he offered apologetically.

James looked from Tyler to Mac and from Mac to Tyler, wondering if he would also be included in the prospect of food. Although Adam had made him a sandwich earlier, it didn't look the most appetising of things to eat and innocently claimed he wasn't hungry.

"James?" Mac asked. James span his head round to Mac with a confused look although he hoped that this meant he could eat something now, he was on his best behaviour and so stayed quiet in case it was wrong to be hungry now, especially after Adam's efforts. All he'd had today was a chocolate bar Mac had bought him at the vending machines. Tyler stepped into reiterate what Mac was asking James.

"Wha-da-bout you buddy?" Tyler smiled at both James and Mac, "hungry?"

As James' face brightened up, Mac said, "why don't you go with Tyler, you get to choose then" and smiled at the both of them as they walked out. Unwillingly he thought that that was another $20 he couldn't use to pay Jo's freedom.

Deliberately, while Tyler and Ellie were sorting food out for themselves and James, Mac called a team meeting. 'Measure twice and cut once' He told himself as they all piled into the conference room. It was something he'd told Jo, a day when a case hadn't gone her way and what seemed like a slam dunk was a bit more confusing.

"What's up Mac?" Danny asked nervously, whenever they were summons to the conference room involving a case it was usually to re-think their strategy, to go back on their evidence when something wasn't working out they way the way they hoped.

"There's been a development" Mac states as the team looked at each other, nervous that it wasn't good. On the other hand if indeed the news was bad, Mac would be tipped over the edge. Many of the team had started to believe the office rumors. Although the gossip had started before the couple got involved romantically, they had become true, as Mac had begun to loose his rational state of mind when their friend was taken.

"I spoke to Jo" Mac said nervously, not wanting to loose his cool. As far a the team could see so far, this was good news, they all knew there was a darkness within the good.

"At least we know she's not d..." Lindsey drew a deep breath she wouldn't allow her consciousness to let the thought cross her mind. Think positively she thought, after Stella left unexpectedly she had grown close to Jo who had filled her position at work. Many people including Mac had had there doubts about Jo at first, but Jo warmed to their hearts and slowly became part of the fire, heart and soul of the team, everyone wanted Jo back.

Mac suddenly panicked, he'd brought them to a team meeting, intending to share the latest news but the words wouldn't form on his tongue, they were stuck his throat. He was about to say 'Jo is being held hostage for Ransom' or something along those lines but as he opened his mouth his emotions took hold and punched a hole through his mental barrier of normality. He coughed to stop his self chocking out tears in front of everyone, swallowing his emotions burring them deep within.

Luckily Flack was there and recognised the situation before the others took wind of how much Mac was feeling towards Jo in these circumstances. "Alright there Mac?" He asked and nodded his head in understanding. The team faced Flack as his spoke, "I think what Mac here is trying to say that we have some bad news" He glanced over to Mac who was struggling to hold his emotions in, it wasn't obvious, but being a detective Flack could tell. Mac talked through his eyes, he showed a deep amount of pain and suffering knowing that Jo was in danger, nobody could see this except Flack and Jo.

Flack also drew a breath but managed to convey across what Mac had intended. "Look guys, there aint no easy way to say this. Jo is now being used to collect Ransom, The scumbag wants One Million Dollars in 4 hours" He then looked at Mac, the whole team did, he took a tense breath and rubbed his eyes. He hadn't slept, how could he sleep?

"What are we going to do?" he signed angrily.

"We could bluff it" Flack suggested but even he knew this criminal was too smart for silly mind games.

"I've sold my apartment" Mac said quietly

"What?" Flack had heard him, so had Danny,

"Hey, Mac you sold your apartment." Danny asked confused.

"Yeah, I got some money saved too, I'm not exactly a millionaire but I have some money from my days in the marines." Mac explained

This is where their suspicions were finally confirmed; Mac and Jo were now a couple beyond reasonable doubt.

"Where are you going to stay?" Lindsey asked, concerned

"At Jo's" he said miserably, he had to look after Tyler and Ellie, for Jo, he had to look after them. He would have been more than happy staying at the office or a rented property but he knew what was best.

"What about a department grant" Adam offered his suggestion without reading the new lab policy, and for that he go a sharp look from Sheldon who had.

"I'll go talk to Sinclair about that." Mac said as he witnessed the looks amongst the team. "Its in the best interests of the lab, she is the reason we all work as efficiently as we do."

"Lets prove it to her Mac," Danny said kindly "Lets get her out of there." As the meeting drew to a close Danny stood up and gently squeezed Mac's shoulder as he headed for the door in an understanding way, he couldn't imagine what he'd be like if he lost Lindsey or Lucy. Mac sat there as the group left, he was left thinking that he needed a better plan.

-0-

"Poor Mac," Danny said sympathetically to Lindsey, "How long do you think they have been… 'uknow"

"Together?" Lindsey chucked at her husbands lack of words, "Could be months, they have been getting closer and closer recently…Imagine what Mac's going through" she concluded.

"I'd rather not" Danny said abruptly, he held her in his arms. "You and Lucy better not go anywhere," Danny huffed slightly at the thought.

"Lucy and I are not going anywhere" Lindsey reassured him and held into his hug tighter.

They pulled away as they had work to do, in these circumstances they wanted to help, but they needed each other more than ever.

Danny found the blood samples that he had left earlier to follow the plant lead. As the computer, was what seemed to be taking an awfully long time, found a match. The blood smear was Jo's, Oh god it was Jo's!

Danny set up in a room with three doors, with identical handles, where the blood had smeared. First he tried matching the pattern of the smear, he hadn't been able to take photo's at the crime scene but he liked to think he had a photographic memory. He coved in had with a red dye. No match in his mind, the pattern he'd seen at the crime scene indicated a smudged directionality, not the way you'd open a door.

Flack walked past the room and Danny had a brainwave,

"Flack!" Danny shouted, and Flack came running back around the corner of which he had just turned.

"What?" He asked

"You reckon you're a bit smaller than this Detourus scum?"

Flack shot a confused and dazed look across at Danny, "meaning?"

"Okay, hold this." Danny handed flack a jello man, that was roughly Jo's height, it came upto his eye level.

"You're going to conduct an experiment on me?"

"No, on jello man." Danny pointed over to the second door "Walk through that door."

Flack walked towards the door.

"Don?"

"Yeah."

"With this." and Danny held the jello man to Flack

"Right."

Flack walked through the door with the dye painted jello man and he looked at the pattern. "what we comparing it to?" Flack asked. The scene was released before we realised anything substantial, the evidence was compromised, I didn't get chance to take photos." Danny explained.

"Right" Flack shot a confused look across his face, but he had to admit it was better than any ideas he'd had.

They looked at the smudge, it was similar to what Danny remembered but not quite, "Try it once more" Danny pleaded.

Of course Flack wanted to help so with a nod he agreed.

"Fireman's lift? Supposing…" Danny cut himself short, "Supposing Jo was unconscious, so then he'd have to carry her that way… Right?

Danny heard Flack swallow as not to show his soft side. "Right"

Flack picked up the jello man again and the jello man's side went into the door handle creating an identical smudge pattern. Danny's face told flack everything he needed to know.

"Oh god!" Flack whispered.

-0-

Luke had not called her in a while, Katherine had loved him once but now he was nothing more than a play toy, he'd gotten her in this mess, he was going to get her out of it. She felt no remorse; Jo would be dead by now the plan was going smoothly. Operation Jo was well and truly under way and her and Mac could start a new life in peace.

She had finally ran out of patience, so she called him

"Hey babe" She cringed slightly but didn't show it in her voice

"A new plan?" she asked nervously

"Is he going to cough it up?"

"_Yeah babe we're going to be rich! Its ridiculous, he called her like 100 times and so I though. Make a profit! We're gonna be out of New York City by 7 tonight, Pack your bags and meet me at the airport." _

He hung up.

She was seething with anger.

-0-

Jo had been conscious for all of 5 minutes, she then realised she must have slept. It was not a restful sleep; it was just because her body enforced it.

To keep her from going crazy she'd think about her life, her new life with Mac, her life with her two beautiful children, and her life with her friends at work. She too also was thinking positively. Without it she'd feel depressed, the situation was bad enough as it was. Although she did wonder what she had done to deserve this, things happen for a reason, what was the reasoning for this? Her mind wondered freely until she was kicked in the side. Her lips let out a gasping yelp, Jo thought they wanted to keep her alive now tp collect ransom.

Katherine was there again and suddenly she feared for her life. The question wasn't if Mac could get the money together in such a short space of time, but if she'd live that long.

**_A/N _**

**_HEY, THANK YOU FOR STICKING WITH ME AND MY STORY THIS LONG._**

**_ I HAVE NOTICED HOWEVER, THAT MY READERSHIP HAS GONE DOWN AS PEOPLE LOOSE INTEREST. I'M NEW AT THIS, AS I'VE SAID PREVIOUSLY. _**

**_IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MY STORY PLEASE LET ME KNOW. (: PLEASE R&R I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK._**

**_ CONTINUE OR DITCH AND WRITE ANOTHER OR GIVE UP COMPLETELY?_**

**_PLEASE CONTINUE TO READ AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU ENJOY IT (: _**

**_THANK YOU (:  
><em>**


	9. The Unexpected

Chapter 9

Mac had returned to his office and had begun thinking. He had to do something, anything. His apartment had been sold which got him closer to his target, he had some money saved, not just from his marine days but from Claire's life insurance they'd taken out when they got married, Mac had not spent a single dime of it. He sat there perplexed, the extra money would help, but technically the money was now fraudulent. Was there was another way of gaining $150 000? In all honesty, in his mind he still hadn't seen Claire since September 11th 2001. However he knew right there and then, he wouldn't be able to raise the rest of the money without using it. Katherine was different to Claire, in looks they appeared the same but she now had a dark side, a side that Mac did not like. She had forced him into his detective mode when she'd been around him, he didn't trust her. The whole team had this same feeling, a gut instinct that told them she was trouble. This was an instinct they were familiar with; it was the instinct that told them when a suspect was guilty with the crime they were being accused of. It didn't make sense as Katherine she wasn't a suspect.

Mac wanted to help, so he stood up but suddenly collapsed back down again, for whenever he tried his emotions pounded through his mental stability and his emotions would be set free from his locked soul for everyone to see, he would protect his true feeling and his privacy at all costs. He sat back in shock of the thoughts, he knew deep down that these where not his true feelings. He wasn't going to risk the life of the woman he loved for his dignity! Or for anything.

He stood up again as determination struck in his eyes, a solitude tear rolled freely down his face as he walked out of his office, this sudden thought track had given him confidence and perspective, he didn't care if he lost his pride, he only cared for Jo. He wanted her soft skin in his arms, he wanted her to feel safe, to feel loved. He wanted to kiss her again and to never stop he just wanted her.

-0-

As Jo crawled back to the world of the conscious, she realized that she'd been handcuffed again. She had been relived when she had been told that these people might let her get back to Mac peacefully, yes there'd be a price to pay but she could see him again. Now her status had returned to "wanted dead." The beast wasn't there, neither was Katherine. Jo had figured that they'd gone to talk through their new diabolical plan. She was in massive pain, she was bruised black and blue, purple and yellow for that matter too in some places where the healing process had begun to take place. Her ribs shot a direct pain to her brain as she moved, there was nothing she could do without letting out a harsh sound from her lips as the pain continued to throb and ache. Unfortunately her pain was not just physical, her heart yearned for Mac and her children. She missed her family, Mac included.  
>Without warning the door opened. Mac? She had thought, but to her dismay it was Katherine.<br>"You woke up then huh?" she spat out angrily, "my so called partner in crime gets a little confused, mixed up."  
>"Who are you?" Jo painfully managed, she was horrifically beaten, malnourished and seriously dehydrated, her throat hurt as if she had bad been force-fed thorns. She spoke in a hoarse and rusty voice.<br>The sun aligned with the high window perfectly and a long rectangle of the suns rays ran into the room and over Katherine's face revealing her identity to Jo. Jo remembered her photo on Mac's desk, she was beautiful, Jo would never forget a face like that.  
>"Claire..." she dragged from her voice box.<br>"He is MY husband" Katherine said cruelly, "you don't deserve him"  
>Jo inwardly cursed at Katherine, 'and you do?' she wanted to blurt, but considering the circumstances, Katherine had the upper hand and it would not be wise to provoke some that wanted you dead.<br>Katherine had all her intentions on shooting Jo, although she liked making her suffer; it seemed to be a new game of hers. However Katherine was disappointed with the lack of Jo's response and so pulled a gun on her. Playtime was over.  
>"Beg me not to shoot!" Katherine growled as she steeped closer to Jo.<br>"Never!" Jo tried to shout but her voice was too damaged, it sounded more like a harsh croak.  
>The beast opened the door and let more light in.<br>"WHAT THE HELL?" he roared "I thought we agreed?" He paused and looked at her desperately "We kill her after we get the money."  
>"He doesn't love her that much" Katherine resorted to. She leant into Jo and placed the gun on the left side of her chest ready to put a hole in Jo's heart, the way she felt Jo had done to her in a more metaphorical way. "He wouldn't raise the money for her!" she snorted jealously. Katherine put her finger on the trigger and...<p>

The beast came crashing into her and tackled her to the floor. A shot went off but by the noise it appeared no one was injured. The gun slipped across the room but Jo couldn't reach it. She tried to move but no matter how many times her brain told her legs to move they reminded her of what the closest thing to death was like in the form of pain.  
>The next thing Jo herd was a woman's yelp. The beast had started to punch her and it looked like he'd kicked her once or twice too. She had been also knocked unconscious, but it didn't look as bad as the way Jo felt. Perhaps as she'd grown a strong dislike to her boyfriend's wife, she was more inclined to feel worse. The beast then removed the handcuffs from Jo's wrists and put one on Katherine's ankle and one on Jo's.<br>He genially looked sorry for the pain he'd caused her. Jo assumed she was his girlfriend of sorts. "It's for our own good," he said try to rationalize what he'd done.

-0-

Mac had walked out of his office and across the hallway when he spotted Danny and Flack undertaking an experiment and so he popped his head through the door. Flack was still holding a red inked jello man.  
>Mac walked into the room and thought calm and collected thoughts before he spoke, "Hey guys"<br>"Hey boss" Danny said with a nod.  
>"Hey Mac" Flack also nodded with his greeting.<br>"Did you find anything of interest?" Mac asked.  
>Instantly the look on their faces told Mac that it was not good news. He put his hand to his forehead and rubbed a little before he dragged his hand through his hair. Mac felt his emotions hammer at his soul and a tear rolled freely from his grasp as he fought to keep them back, even though he'd promised himself to not fight them any longer he still needed the ability to communicate with his colleges.<br>Danny had never seen his boss cry, they'd been friends and worked together for nearly 10 years but never had he seen such raw emotion from his boss. He understood completely and with a nod he continued so as not to keep a tense atmosphere. "The blood smear on the door is Jo's it is consistent with her being carried in a fireman's lift, unconscious" he took a deep breath and silently thanked god that he wasn't in the same situation as Mac and Lindsey and Lucy were both with him.

Mac winced, he didn't like to think Jo was in such a state, at this point at least he knew she was still alive, he'd spoken to her on the phone earlier and all he had to do was hope for the best.

Mac glanced outside where he saw that James had returned with Tyler and Ellie from the cafeteria, he was growing all the more curious when he saw James smiling outside his office with a wrap, bigger than his face. Where the hell was Katherine now? He went to his phone to call her but it was then he realised she didn't leave a number.

James shyly came into the lab and sat down on a stool.

"Hey," Mac said to James "that looks bigger than you"

James smiled again, "it's tasty" and he took another large bite, fitting it around the way his mouth opened so he could bite down.

"So," Mac got to what he really wanted to ask, "When's your Mom back."

James suddenly looked concerned, "What time is it?"

"Five" Mac suddenly thought, oh GOD it's already five, that leaves me with only two hours left!

"Oh," James said, "Mommy told me to give this to you at four, I forgot" he said embarrassed and handed Mac a note.

_Mac,_

_By now your suspicious mind will have got the better of you. Yes, James is our son as you will see on one of those DNA tests. Unfortunately I had to deceive you and I tricked you into taking care of him. I know you'd like to get to know him and I've got some business to attend to, I won't be back for a week or two. I spoke to a lady on your team last week, Jo I think she said her name was. She said you're great with kids when it popped up in conversation. James hasn't been enrolled in school yet but we intend to stay in New York. I hope you will learn to forgive me._

_Sorry, _

_Love Claire_

Mac blinked twice as he couldn't believe what he was reading. James was looking at the floor when Mac scowled at him. Mac then immediately regretted it this was not James fault.

-0-

Adam was pacing up and down, in the lab across from where Mac was, with the information he'd gained earlier. Should he trust his head or heart? Mac always told the team 'think with your head,' and his head told him, No don't tell Mac because that would just get him in a heap of trouble and that Mac might well run the test anyway. On the other hand his heart told him that Mac should know it would be a waste of a test if they did it again and Mac should never have to doubt it.

Adam put his left hand on his chin and his right on his forehead and then dragged it through his hair, as he looked across the windows into the lab where Mac stood with the 9 year old. They did look similar; he shouldn't have doubted it really.

"Hey, I've done something bad" He told Lindsey as she came in for her lab coat,

"Erhh" Lindsey said, "Should I be worried?"

"What do you think of Katherine and James?" Adam said trying to get out of asking Lindsey directly,

"I..Urh" Lindsey wanted to pick her words wisely because she didn't want to disrespect anyone that Mac cared about. "I think, that Katherine is trouble" Lindsey concluded, "So do the rest of the team"

"James said she lies a lot and so I did a DNA test." Adam looked at the floor, Lindsey's disapproving look would have been too much.

"And…" she asked when he didn't divulge the answer.

"Shouldn't Mac be the first to know?" Adam asked

"Let him know," Lindsey finally offered her advice, "He has a right to know either way" with her comment she nodded and grabbed her white Lab coat but before she walked out into the corridor she offered one last peace of information, "The whole team are wondering." And she turned to head in the direction she'd come form.

He didn't know that Mac himself was having doubts about the paternity of James but after having the brief conversation with Lindsey Adam decided to go and see Mac.

-0-

"Hey Boss," Adam said as he came into the room.

"Have you got good news for me?" Mac hopefully asked,

"Erhh" Adam stalled; he wanted just to tell Mac and run.

"Well its kind of good news…" Adam tried.

"What is it Adam?" Mac said sternly so as to get Adam to open up.

"I did a DNA test." Adam said shortly.

Mac sighed slightly agitated but tried not to let it show. It had not been him that the curiosity had got the better of; it had been his team.

"I'm sorry Mac, I did it on my own, I just spoke to Lindsey, we thought you should know, oh god your going to fire me aren't you?" Adam rushed what he said but Mac understood and just stood there.

"He's you're son" Adam said with a printed out copy of the document and handed it to Mac.

"No, Adam I'm not going to fire you"

"Right, Gee thanks boss" Adam said as he turned to leave, he wanted to get out of there as fast as he could, but he stopped and started to speak again, "Even James says this Katherine lies a lot, didn't you buddy?" he looked sorry at James who could tell that this was something big but nodded, as he knew the truth was the best policy. "All I'm saying is that the whole team have a funny feeling about her, but at least she told the truth about this, I guess."

Mac knew what Adam was talking about and Adam left. Mac and James did look alike, he just never really thought about it much.

"Right James, do you want to see some thing cool?" Flack said

"I already saw my code, what else is cool?" James asked

"How about an NYPD hat? That's pretty cool, huh?"

James nodded enthusiastically and Flack said to Mac "You sort things out with Sinclair, I'll keep James entertained and sort some bits and pieces out, construct a plan. We focus on Jo, Okay?"

"Of course, " Mac nodded with the second part particularly "Focus on Jo" He repeated.

Flack walked out with James, and Danny and Mac were left alone.

-0-

"Hey, your Flack right?" a boy of about 18 said to Flack.

"Yeah that's me, who wants to know?" Flack asked as they both walked together

"I'm Tyler" he shook hands with Flack. "I want to help, do you mind if I come with you?" He asked

"Sure, but I don't want to become a babysitter, you look out for your self? Got it?"

"Sure." Tyler said "Actually I was wondering if you could perhaps put me on a cadet team or something. After all this, I'd like to help find my mom myself."

"Erhh…" Flack wondered for a minute, was this a wise idea? "You have a law degree or something?"

"Yeah, just graduated" Tyler said proudly "Please?" Although Tyler had not been to a police academy Flack agreed. Flack realised that it would make both Tyler and him feel better if they both helped. It would also make Jo feel better when she got away from that beast to see her son finally take an interest in her career, as he had wanted to follow his father for a while in the FBI.

-0-

"What next for me Boss?" Danny asked innocently.

"Just go through the evidence, re read the case files" Mac said as he'd said it many times over, "Let me know if you come up with anything"

Mac walked out with a single nod to Danny and went to his office, took a deep breath and picked up his landline phone.

He put on his serious frame of mind and dialled Sinclair.

-0-

Jo jumped when Katherine groaned, she had been in her own daydream and forgotten that they were joined at the ankle. Katherine had just awoken from her unconscious slumber. Katherine tried to jerk her foot away from Jo, it worked to some extent as Jo's eyes filled with a tearful pain, they however were still joined. It was true, Katherine was not as hurt as Jo, and this gave her the upper hand once more. Soon enough Katherine realised this and fist of Katherine's came into contact with Jo's leg, Katherine's strength was stronger than Jo's but in all honesty it didn't hurt Jo much, Instead of flinching she spoke.

"Look, we are both in the same situation now, why don't you just PACK IT IN?" Jo said slightly irritated at Katherine who was now looking slightly embarrassed.

"If he had a choice he's choose me," Katherine said viciously.

"Not after what you've done." Jo countered. "I want what is best for Mac and I certainly don't think its you."

"What?" The beast interrupted. "You love HIM?" His sudden outburst had shocked them both and they both froze.

Jo could tell that he was directing his anger towards Katherine, but it still scared her a little.

"I'm just saying, he missed me, I was married to him… That's it" Katherine tried,

"Right" The Beast said unconvinced.

"Your husband," The beast chose his words carefully, "Has one hour to get the money to us."

Katherine looked at Jo, "And then she dies anyway," she insisted and spat at her.

"Right," The beast said and unlocked the cuffs from the both of them.

-0-

Meanwhile Mac was desperately trying to raise the money, "I know what the policy says Sinclair, I wrote it. Look you and you and I have never seen eye to eye, but from you point of view you should be concerned too.

NO, CLAY DOBBSON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS! Look, it was your buddy Stan who was at fault, not me! You just wanted positive publicity.

Jo is a great detective and it is you're job to put in place measurements that stop things like this happening! I'm not going to let you use me to fast track your career.

Well we wouldn't want the media getting hold of this; I mean you're a generous man in their eyes. You wouldn't want you're career come crashing down, Stan Garrard has never been tried in court for covering up Truebe's mistakes, I'm sure they too would be interested why you have kept it hidden for a long time also.

No Not Blackmail. Its just something you should be aware of if you choose to deny Jo her freedom, I would be of the same opinion if it was anyone on the team.

Right. Well the money needs to be in my hands by 6:30, I have sorted the rest. I have pulled in a favour.

Sinclair I will use it as a last resort, I'll be wired and Flack has set up a team that can come in at any time.

Thank you, Goodbye."

Mac put down the phone; his negotiating had gone better than he thought, he was getting the hang of the politics side of the job. Although he knew that Sinclair would try to penalise him on the Dobson case and so he had the upper advantage.

The Bank was on the way to the airport and Sinclair had said to meet at Mac's bank so the money would not be exposed anywhere else. Mac could not wait any longer and dashed for the elevator.

-0-

"Time-to-go." The Beast said as he yanked Jo from her spot on the floor. She was still in incredible pain, she didn't even realise before that someone could feel this bad.

She scanned around for Katherine but found no sign of her; perhaps he'd already killed her. Vainly she hoped he had, she didn't want to fight her for Mac.

No such luck. While Jo had been dragged into the back of a rusty white van Katherine took the passenger seat up front. Jo had the strength, just, to pull herself up to lean on the walls of the van. The van was old; she knew this was going to be a bumpy and painful ride.

They arrived at the airport half an hour early, and the sun was beginning its decent for the day. She was carried up some stairs and into what looked like an old office.

Jo hoped that she'd at least see Mac before they executed their diabolical plan. However Jo knew that it would be Katherine's plan that was executed. After all Katherine had no intention of keeping The Beast alive either. Jo wasn't sure exactly what the plan was, perhaps to get the Beast to shoot Jo in front of Mac and then to shoot The Beast herself and make out like a hero.

-0-

Mac was at the Bank with Sinclair, all together they had the Million. Mac was amazed with how he got it so fast when his mind was set to it.

Mac had been in his office when he'd called his friend Bertie. New York is a place where apartments were in demand, so his shouldn't be too hard to sell. He called his friend, who was in the business of buying and selling apartments. Luckily enough he had a friend from England who needed an apartment in New York and they were willing and able to pay the asking price of $350 000 within hours. This meant with Claire's life insurance he could free Jo and that is what he intended to do. He knew it was illegal but he would spend time in prison for her, loose his job for her, he frankly did not care about the consequences. He wanted her safe and this was his main priority. With a quick transaction moved forward to a couple of hours from Bertie, he had sold his apartment and the money was in the account. He moved to Jo's and that was that. Although he did wonder what would happen afterwards, the team had not managed to track her, and he had been told where she'd be. It wasn't exactly the quickest rescue ever.

Mac had been wired; anything that was said was recorded. He had been given a code word, to alert Flacks team to come in although they would have to be based half a mile away out of site. Mac also had a bulletproof vest on underneath his coat, he was ready, and was excited to see Jo.

The plan was for Mac to go in and stay in the car he was supposed to wait for a sign from Detourus before he decided to either go in himself or put the money on the ground and wait for them to come out. Mac had been trained in such situations but never with such an emotional stake. If he felt that he or Jo were in danger then he was to call it in, if anything unexpected came up he was supposed to abort and call it in. Although he knew what he was supposed to do he knew he would concentrate on finding Jo and ignore the rest.

"Mac we can send some one else in if you like?" Flack offered, "Your emotionally attached, you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes, I'm sure" Mac had replied but only so he'd be the first to see Jo.

Suddenly he was being ushered to an unmarked police car, Flack had really helped out on this one. It had all the new technologies, hidden compartments, guns, he felt like 007. He had been waiting for what seemed like forever when he received the phone call earlier that morning but it now seemed to have come too fast. What if it was already too late? What if there was more than just Detourus? What if something that he hadn't considered happened? He was in shock from all the questions he was asking himself. He stepped in and checked the radio, testing everything worked, he wouldn't take any chances and he wouldn't have technology fail on him like the last hostage case. He started the engine and waited for his commands to drive to the location. The commands were given quickly, he had also been instructed to speak to Flack and some other detectives from Flack's precinct about the plan on the radio the whole journey there, just so that they were absolutely positive that nothing was to go wrong.

He was early, by 10 minutes, but 10 minutes early was better than being a second late. He knew his team where behind him, mentally and physically. Tyler had also taken an interest in helping and was issued a bulletproof vest, much to Mac's discomfort.

Mac got out of the car and walked towards the door of the aircraft hanger, something that he had specifically told not to do.

Mac kicked down the door leaving the money in the car. He knew what he was doing but it was against procedure.

"JO!" He shouted, although he hoped for an answer from Jo, he knew this would attract the attention of Detourus and any other accomplices, he would want to take them out first before bringing danger to Jo. He walked around a large cargo aircraft and a newer smaller plane of which he expected was their escape plan. He started to climb the stairs at the back of the room, the room was large, built in the 70's and had since been a business success until the company went bust 2 years ago. Although the place looked functional, there was a considerable amount of graffiti on the walls and on the abandoned aeroplane At the top of the staircase there was an old office door, somehow he knew Jo was in there. He pulled out his gun, 'ready for anything' he told himself.

He kicked down the second door and that's when the surprise hit his expression like a train.

"Claire?" Mac said in disbelief.

_**A/N **_

__**_SO LAST UPDATE OF 2011 HOPE EVERYONE ENJOYS IT  
>LET ME KNOW BECAUSE I AM A BIT EDGEY ON THIS CHAPTER... (:<br>PLEASE R&R BECAUSE REVIEWS GIVE ME GENTLE PERSUASION TO WRITE MORE_**  
><strong><em>SORRY THAT THE CHAPTER WAS SLIGHTLY LONGER THAN USUAL 3<br>_**

****_**PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK... SLIGHTLY WORRIED ABOUT THIS ONE... (:**_


	10. The Truth

Chapter 10

"Claire" Mac repeated as he lowered his gun so as it pointed the floor, he could see she was badly beaten, Detourus had specifically targeted Mac, not Jo, as he'd now been after Katherine.

Mac thought he was the link. That much he was right about. Although he had no idea how and to what extent.

Katherine was just standing there, she was hurt but to her dismay he was more concerned about Jo.

"Have you seen Jo?" There was a glimpse of hopefulness in his voice as he spoke to her but she looked at the floor embarrassed. She felt like she was in the school playground playing a flirting game with a boy.

Mac either ignored her or just didn't notice her ploy. No one else appeared to be in the office; he looked around briefly and noticed that the desks looked like they'd never been cleared out. There was paper everywhere, the computer monitors were broken and glass on the floor, their was grafitti on the walls, like down stairs in the main hanger from kids that had vandalised the remaining property.

"Where is he?" Mac asked getting increasingly annoyed. "Where is Detourus?" He yelled.

Katherine's face glowed with joy, her master plan had slide nicely into action. She didn't face Mac while she grinned but she knew that the plan was working. she realised Mac was more concerned about finding her beloved ex-boyfriend than search for her replacement. Katherine was becoming more confident now.

"Jo?" He yelled loudly, in fact Mac's top priority was finding Jo, he was just concerned about what he said and did around Katherine. Claire wasn't Claire anymore, he reminded himself harshly. Claire had become Katherine, a woman he did not like or trust. His gun was in a ready position, close to his face. He heard a noise but was unsure of the direction and quickly glanced around.

"Jo?" Mac yelled frantically. "Where are you?"

He was desperate, what would he do without her! Nausea followed from the pit of his stomach, he couldn't think negatively. It was ironic really they'd realised their love for all of a couple of days and he couldn't bear to be apart from her. So much had changed in these days that it would change their lived forever. The thought of never having her in his arms killed him, more so than his wife 'dying'. He had never felt so strongly for one individual, he loved her. He was quite certain about that now. He loved her beyond any thing he ever imagined. He remembered their single kiss to keep in mind focused but in all honesty it distracted him. He wanted her so badly he felt that his heart was about to beat right out of his chest. Suddenly it went quiet, all Mac could hear was his own breathing.

The room was stingy, the light bulb flickered and sweat accumulated above Mac's brow. All he wanted to do was find Jo and ever so slightly he heard a whimper from what seemed to be coming from the bathroom. He turned around in search for Katherine, perhaps she'd heard it too, or perhaps he'd imagined it. She had gone. This seemed to be a habit of hers. Nevertheless Mac ignored the fact that Katherine had gone, and so he booted through the female bathrooms in search for… for a second he thought '…my wife' maybe one day he'd make that happen and he smiled at the thought.

"Jo!" Mac cried in happiness, he'd found her! He ran to join her and he hastily kissed her on the forehead and carefully circled his strong arms around her so as to shield her from any danger that could enclose upon them.

"Mac!" she wanted to shout out in joy, however her vocal cords restricted her to a pathetic whimper. A tear ran from her face as she smiled, this was her heaven, anywhere as long as it was with Mac, something too she'd come to realise over the time they'd been apart.

"Are you okay?" He looked over her, she was badly beaten and hurt, he felt stupid at asking the question. Her skin was in a bad condition as she'd been out of daylight, beaten black and blue, malnourished and she was severely dehydrated. He picked up his NYPD radio and began to call it in.

"This is Detective Mac Taylor, Officer down…" Before he had a chance to state what had happened or to give out new orders. A shadow formed behind him and by the look of Jo's face it wasn't a recue team so he stopped speaking.

Jo just wanted to be out of there, she knew she was safe as long as she was with Mac. However the back of her mind nagged at her, she knew their intentions, or part of them at least, none of which were good. Seconds later, a large thudding came bounding up the stairs and into the bathroom where Jo was being held.

Mac spun round and saw Katherine directly in front of him, Jo obviously hadn't gotten off on the right foot with his wife, Mac thought from the look on Jo's face. He considered Katherine to be anything but his wife, she'd changed so much in the last 10 years, other than the looks, her personality he barely recognised.

He glanced around Katherine and he saw The Beast.

"Detourus." He said in an unfriendly greeting, he wanted to shoot him right there and then, but for the first time today he thought of the proper protocol, he was with her now, she was safe.

"Where is the money?" The Beast demanded, clenching his teeth and scowling.

"Consider this a rescue mission" Mac spat disgustedly.

Katherine looked at him to say I told you so. Suddenly, Mac saw it, there was a connection between Katherine and that monster, only for a second but it was there. Again without warning things started to make sense.

"Long time no see," The Beast nodded at Mac and pointed the gun in his direction, much to the inward discomfort of Katherine.

"The time would be too short if I never saw you again," Mac growled, playing the game. "You knew each other before, didn't you?" Mac prodded, "Before 9/11."

Katherine's face drained and was filled with rage and despair; Mac was the detective, Katherine had underestimated him severely and Mac was working it out.

"You were working in the corner shop down the road from our apartment" Mac slowly began to realise more with everything he said.

"You were never abducted?" He sharply turned to Katherine and looked painfully and disapprovingly into her eyes, "Were you? It was all an act from the very beginning. Wasn't it?" His disapproving tone had always rattled Claire slightly, but Katherine was different, she just glared.

Detourus moved closer to get a better aim at Mac with his gun ready to fire.

-0-

Flack was pacing up and down,

"Jeeze! What's taking them so long?" Flack muttered out loud, not that anyone heard, they were far to 'busy'.

Flack had had enough of this torture and called Mac in on the radio.

"Come in Detective Taylor." He said and he deliberately took his figure off of the button and listened eagerly for a reply. He put his free hand through his hair and scowled at the lack of progress they were making. He was across the road from the truck that the wire information feeds were being sent to but after 30 minutes of badgering they didn't budge and wouldn't allow flack inside, as they were not his team. There must have been a cock-up somewhere. Flack was frustrated and so he took a walk and got himself a coffee to clear his head.

Flack was impatient; he never liked things when they were on the edge, especially when he two closest friends were caught up in the middle of it all. He felt powerless; he chucked the nearly empty cardboard cup in the bin and walked over the road. Violently, he banged on the back door of the truck. Great, no answer! He peered through the window and it was a joke! The team that Flack had been sent were goofing around, and didn't even have their headsets on; they were not doing their jobs!

Flack pulled out his phone

"Adam, yes. I need you to do me a favour. Well Mac actually. Can you bring some equipment down here? Yeah we need to hack into the hostage rescue teams network. Adam. Yeah that's fine… I sent for MY GUYS! Why didn't they send my guys?" He whined down the phone to Adam, he cleared his throat. "Yeah just bring headsets and the hacky thingy me bobby." There was a slight pause "Now Adam!"

Flack made another call straight away, "You know full damn what, Sinclair!" Flack was slowly getting wound up. "You thought it was best? Huh? Well let me tell you, those buffoon's have been sat on their ass all evening and nothing, no progress! and they are playing cards, goofing around. This is NOT a joke! They should be on red alert! What the HELL are you playing at? Huh? You're sure they are doing their best? Sinclair, they don't even have their damn headsets on! DAMITT! No. I will not calm down!" Flack was too moody to hear Sinclair's mindless excuses and abruptly hung up.

Adam was there within minutes.

"Thank you Adam," Flack said appreciatively.

"Don… Isn't this… You'know… Illegal and all?" Adam frantically squeezed together.

"Adam." Flack said sternly. "That is why we're not going to tell anyone." Flack rolled his eyes. All he cared about was Jo and Mac, the team depended on the both of them, he depended on Jo to cheer him up on a Monday morning, and he depended on Mac for advice. He just wanted his friends back.

"Right" he said "I know, we all need them back" Adam reassured him and fumbled with lots of wires that confused Flack instantly.

"Where is the transmitting and receiving feed coming from?" Adam asked innocently but the look on Flack's face told Adam he'd annoyed him. Flack frowned and pointed over at the police truck.

"Right" Adam said again and looked at the Truck. "Are these your guys?" Adam asked

"No." Flack grunted. "They are a bunch of lazy…"

"Okay… Well I'll do my best." Adam interrupted quickly. He worked fast, Adam was good at what he did, and there was no doubt about it. 5 minutes after he arrived he handed Flack a headset.

"We can hear Mac, Mac can't hear us" Adam reminded him. " And the feed is indirect so it might be slightly distorted but the technology is good so we should hear them fine. Simultaneously they put the headsets on.

They both listened to a gun being fired.

Flack cursed loudly, he glanced over at the truck. No one had moved. This angered him even more. He picked up his radio and tried to reach Mac. No such luck.

-0-

"Claire you just shot him." Mac said in disbelief. His mind came to terms with it all. The Claire he knew wouldn't have harmed a fly, Now she was shooting people?

"There could have been a rational solution to that" he briefly scowled at her and looked he looked down from her face to her hand where she was still holding a 9mm gun.

A cop standard 9mm.

Jo's 9mm.

"Where'd you get that?" Mac asked cautiously, The Beast hadn't brought a second gun with him and Detourus's had dropped to the floor with Detourus as he fell. She'd had it whole time.

"It was you from the beginning wasn't it?" He growled and glanced at the state Jo was in. "Did you get bored of me?" He taunted, "All those years ago? Wanted to appear dead? And then at the end of it made out like the innocent one." He snarled.

"I love you, Mac." She tried.

"You love me? You disgust me!" Mac twitched the corner of his mouth into a solemn frown; he looked at her to show his disapproving, seething, scowling look in attempts to intimidate her. It worked as Mac fought for control over the situation.

Katherine genially whimpered.

"So, you just ran off with your new boyfriend. I mean 9/11 was the perfect day to do it!" Mac continued sarcastically, pulling Jo closer to him. Protecting her from the pure evil that stood above them. He would never let her go, he'd hold her until the world ended.

Katherine looked down in shame. She noticed Mac holding Jo, she remembered the way Mac used to hold her. It painfully hurt her to realise too, Mac's love for Jo was different. "I had too…" she tried.

He was so horrified by what she'd done. It tore his heart in two, he'd spent all that time looking for her, for anyone alive that day and for what? Just for Claire to run off with the fancy man of the hour. "No, don't give me any of that bull shit! I know you too well. You didn't show any compassion, any heart to those that actually died, you've disrespected the whole of New York City, the whole country even, the families… "

"Mac it wasn't like that…"

"I'll tell you what its like." Mac cut her off harshly, "You weren't happy with our marriage unbeknown to me, you found yourself a toy and got caught up in gang dealings. You probably had some fun, liked the danger of it all but soon got bored and wanted out. When you were rescued you had to have the one that rescued you, the real fire fighter, your true love. Not to dissimilar to the way we met, if you remember?" He took a deep angry breath and continued, "So you claimed to be a witness" Mac paused and corrected him self "_Victim!_ You betrayed the thoughts and feeling of the people that loved you most and for what?"

Katherine looked from Jo to Mac. They loved each other deeply, even she could see that. However it just made her angrier.

"James doesn't seem to like you much either," Mac resorted to, it was a spiteful comment but he was seething with anger. He felt he had a right to be cruel after the hell he'd been put through at her hands. He wanted to make her hurt as much as he did when he lost her all those years ago, although he knew deep down in his good, kind heart that he couldn't bring that much pain to one human being on purpose. No matter what happened.

"Good!" Katherine snapped back!

Mac was slightly taken aback by her unnecessarily harsh comment, "what?" he said astounded; James was her son for crying out loud!

SHIT, she thought. She'd really shot herself in the foot this time…"When I gave birth, I left him on the steps of some orphanage in New York I wrote on a note his name but left nothing else, and well being married to a crime scene investigator I covered my tracks pretty well. Yes I lied I am free from the gang, actually always have been, they trusted me. I went to Montana with them, they got busted and so I played along" She paused and enjoyed the confusion on both Mac and Jo's faces; Jo was curled into Mac, of which Katherine enjoyed less. She knew that she'd screwed things up between her and Mac although it didn't hurt as much as she anticipated if such an event was to occur. This gave her the advantage.

"Its funny because I always kept Nicola with me, I told you that Nicolas was a great father to James but in truth, they'd never met!" she said just to spite Mac, to hurt him further since she wasn't going to get what she wanted after all. "After Montana our family moved to Tennessee and that was that." She was now desperately trying to make Mac jealous but she had failed. "Anyway when I came back I found him with some foster family, I played the changed mother type and they let me keep him." She gleamed as if she'd just been bought a new pet, this disgusted Mac the most. She'd used a poor innocent child to get at him! She was one hell of a piece of work.

"And where is Nicola now?" Mac snarled, but on the other hand was conserned for the child's safety.

"Safe." She assured him. "They say that you can't have favourite children but I think I have mine figured out. Nicola, Reed, Pets, Anything else, James. Nicola is such a lovely child," she gloated, "she does what she's told, never asks questions and she has a heart of gold. James on the other hand well, he ignores me, he plays dumb all the time, and he generally hates me."

When nobody spoke from the shock Katherine's tone, she tried again to rattle Mac's cage. "He is you're son and I found him to get your attention. It worked by all accounts." She wanted to word it differently but she said what she meant.

"You just wanted to play happy families!" Mac screwed up his face realising the evil that spilt out of her like lava in a volcano, pure poison. "You twisted bitch! That's why you kidnapped Jo!" Mac, without warning, stood up and squared up to Katherine. He was ready for anything, for all he knew he was about to strangle her! He was that angry, and he saw crimes like this on a regular basis.

"Finally" she murmured and sidestepped him, "I wanted to get a clear shot!"

Katherine raised the gun and stepped forward pointing the gun to the left side of her chest. "I'm going to put a hole in your heart the way you put a hole in mine"

An ear piecing shot was fired. Everything went still.


	11. Not Out Of The Woods Yet

Chapter 11

They both jumped from the shot.

"Don, was that another shot?" Adam asked nervously.

"Yeah," Flack put his hand to his mouth and chin "I…urh. I think so." Don, was on edge also, he had been since he'd given Mac the unmarked police car. In fact he'd been on edge since this whole thing started out. "Where are MY guys?" Flack murmured in frustrated tone.

"Is that them?" Adam asked as some NYPD officers came towards them in a hurry.

"Sorry, we didn't realise you needed us." The first one said as he approached.

"That would be them," Flack turned slightly to Adam as he spoke and back again to the short black haired 5'5 man in front of him. "Where the Hell have you been?" Flack growled,

"Sinclair told our team we weren't needed, so we stayed at the precinct."

"Sinclair got involved?" Flack asked surprised. Why would Sinclair tell them not to do their jobs?

"I thought I called the shots around here?" Flack was getting more and more wound up with the officer's tone.

"We.. urh..."

"I don't want to listen to your mindless excuses!" Flack was getting so angry he suspected he could have blown fire if he wanted. When the shorter man didn't move, his fuse ran short. "Get to that Aircraft hanger and find them!" Flack exploded as he pointed harshly in the direction of the hanger.

He watched the team of 10 men hurry towards police cars and a van and sped off.

"Adam, you wanted more field work?"

"Yeah…" Adam said blindly.

"C'mon then!" Flack threw Adam a bulletproof vest. "I'll drive"

"Ok… But what will Mac say… I mean…"

"He'll thank you for saving his ass. C'mon!"

Tyler came running up behind them with Danny, with a look in his eyes that told Flack he was ready for anything. "We're coming with you" he said determined.

Danny looked at Flack to say 'I didn't invite him'. Flack understood Tyler's pain and so nodded in agreement with him coming, he figured he'd get to Mac and Jo quicker if just accepted Tyler's position and didn't argue.

The 4 men piled into a police car, lights flashing as they sped towards the location, although it wasn't far the journey seemed to take ages, slow anxiety crept through each and everyone of them, playing with their thoughts and feelings.

"Do… Do we have a plan?" Adam asked trying to get his act together. This was one of the tensest situations he'd been in, the second being when he was held hostage with Danny over a drugs bust.

"The technology seems to be down again" Danny said, "None of the radio's are working properly… I say we find Jo and Mac and get the hell out of there!"

"Aheeh…" Adam laughed awkwardly "Good plan" he said although his face told a different story. They sat in silence for the remainder of the journey.

-0-

Mac stood over the woman he'd just shot, Katherine was dead still. Immediately as an instinct he checked her pulse, there was none.

He had killed her! Mixed emotions shot through him. She had been threatening an innocent person, the very person he loved. Mac looked down, with all those years they'd been married, he never thought it would come to this. He preferred it when he thought she'd died on 9/11, at least then he didn't know what a monster she'd become.

Jo moved her head slightly, although it caused her pain, she wanted to look deep into the eyes of her hero. He'd saved her from the worst thing in the world, loosing her Mac. She wanted to tell him how she felt but she was numb and felt faint. She knew that this was a big deal for Mac; the person he'd shot to save her wasn't just another criminal to him.

Mac checked for Detourus's pulse also, there was a weak, thready pulse hanging on, clinging to life. More than half of Mac wanted to shoot the bastard dead, but he restrained himself and focused on what was far more important by any stretch of his imagination. Jo.

Jo was weak, so weak that she could barely keep her eyes open, she swayed her head in dizziness to stay awake but it was almost imposable.

"Stay with me Jo." Mac said softly but slightly panicked, he didn't want her to slip into an unconscious slumber "Stay with me."

Jo fought back the darkness that wanted to swallow her whole; she heard his soft voice that brought her back, Mac's cool charming velvet tone swallowed her instead. She was more awake but only just, she was only a shadow of her usual self. Under the circumstances it was more than expected for her to have survived this far.

"We need to get you to a hospital." Mac said with deep concern in his eyes.

Suddenly there were police sirens and car engines, enclosing to the aircraft hanger.

"Perfect timing" Mac muttered to himself sarcastically. Sarcasm wasn't usually his form of whit, he was just angry; he was not himself with Jo in this condition. She was safe from anymore harm, he just had to save her from the injuries, pain and suffering that they'd already inflicted.

He knelt down besides her and circled his strong arms around her. He felt happy that they were together again but he knew that they weren't out of the woods yet. He delicately kissed her on the lips for himself and carried her out of the building.

Flack's car pulled up as Mac reached the clearing, Jo was conscious but lying still in his arms.

"Oh. GOD. NO!" He shouted as he opened the door in a panic.

"MOM!" Tyler ran besides Mac to aid his mother.

"Shit!" Danny exclaimed as he and Adam jumped out of the car.

"Are you..?"

"I'm fine…" Mac said moodily "Get her to a hospital NOW!" Mac was angry that flack hadn't have come sooner when he could hear every thing that was going on, although deep down, some how he knew that it hadn't been Flack fault.

Jo was sweating up, and she looked pale and awful. "Mac?" Jo's voice was weak and thready. It was a while since he heard her speak. "Can I try and stand up?" Mac put Jo down but supported her fully with his arm.

"Okay?" He asked

"Mmhmm" She mumbled agreeing but also in pain and then leant over and vomited violently.

"I'll drive" Flack volunteered, without hesitation Mac whisked Jo up again and gently placed her in the front of Flack's Car and strapped her in.

Mac got in the back with Tyler and they sped off leaving Adam and Danny outside.

"So much for a rescue mission" Adam said.

Danny shrugged, and stood there with Adam. A few minutes later, an ambulance arrived and Danny turned his head towards the entrance of the hanger where they brought out Detourus on a paramedic stretcher. A wave of worry sunk into Adams face,

"Jo is going to be fine" Danny told his younger co-worker. "I have my kit, wanna help me get some evidence?" He looked at Adam hopefully, trying to take both worrying minds off of the unravelling unsure possibilities of their friend's wellbeing.

"Erhh… Okay... I'll Urm... Help … Jo's gonna be fine" He repeated out loud and told himself over and over again as he ruffled his hand though his hair before he entered the hanger with Danny.

It was dark now, and the light inside the hanger was poor with nothing but old lights that didn't work well any longer. This meant that the evidence was going to be hard to collect, but they couldn't just sit there and do nothing. So they worked through the place anyway. There was terror in the atmosphere from the events before hand, Danny didn't want to process the scene, he didn't want to know what happened to Jo, it was all rather awful. Adam too felt the same way.

-0-

Flack dropped Jo and Mac outside the front of Bellevue Hospital, a hospital he visited regularly but not for a case so personal like this one. Mac could then take Jo straight in, as she'd slipped out of consciousness again, even with Mac talking to her the whole way to. Tyler followed Mac while Flack went around to find a space to park.

They burst through the doors; a doctor saw them and immediately greeted and led them to a private room.

"Name?" He asked seriously,

"Jo" Mac said, he almost said 'Taylor' but remembered just in time. "Jo Danville" he managed quickly, especially as Tyler was there. He and Jo had a lot of explaining to do. This had be a hectic few days.

The doctor left briefly and came back in holding some medical notes.

"What happened?" he said while he fiddled with wires to monitor Jo.

"Erhh…" Mac tried to speak but in all honesty he didn't know exactly what happened, only what he had assumed.

"You're from the NYPD, right"

"Yeah." Mac said bluntly, then looked down. You would have thought the head of the Crime Lab would have been able to prevent this. The doctor picked up a note and he scribbled something on his paper.

"We are going to do an X-ray in a bit," The doctor looked up into Mac's concerned and tired eyes.

" You should try and res..." the doctor looked down at a smaller monitor in his hand and suddenly burst out, "Her blood pressure has fallen…" The Doctor looked up, worried. Mac knew what this could mean but swallowed and kept his tears and emotions away from the doctor.

"How long has she been in this condition?" The Doctor quickly fired at Mac.

"I.. I don't know!" Mac said hastily, "Could be… I guess up to 48 hours."

The Doctor looked down and cursed under his breath.

"In case of an emergency are you…?" The Doctor asked

I bloody well should be! He thought. "No." Mac said and looked down.

"No, I'm not next of kin." He suddenly looked at Tyler who was feeling sick.

"For Medical purposes" Tyler began, "Mom, never changed it…"

"Dad has her power of attorney"

Mac swallowed hard, Russell and he had never got on that well.

"But your mom doesn't even get on with him…" Mac tried

"It's on her to do list," He assured him, "Have you seen mom's desk?" he asked to which Mac grunted slightly.

It was true; she wasn't always the most organised of people.

The Doctor was still there waiting to notify the next of kin, as soon as they told him the name.

"Russell Josephson" Mac told the Doctor, "Jo's Ex- husband"

The doctor shot a look across to Mac, he wasn't stupid, and he knew instantly that he and Jo were romantically involved. From the moment Mac carried Jo in, he knew that this was going to be emotionally painful for everyone close to Jo.

"Ok I'll notify next of kin"

"No," Tyler said softly, "I'll call him" to which the doctor nodded and drew some of Jo's blood for testing and also took her temperature. He then walked towards the door, nodded to Mac and looked back at Jo. The machine was beeping in a dull regular beat. "I'll be back in 10 minutes" and quickly walked out of the room just as Flack ran in.

"Is she Okay?" He asked, out of breath, panicking about his friend. Mac looked down, only he and the doctor knew the science behind her injuries.

"I'll go call dad then" and Tyler walked out and dialed Russ, all he wanted to be told that 'mom is okay', he got the feeling that he wasn't going to hear that in there so he thought it was wise to leave.

"Flack, if I tell you…" Mac began, took a deep breath, then started again, "The Doctor hasn't even disclosed the information to Tyler"

"Just tell me Mac."

"When she got in, the Doctor did all the regular tests." He took a deep breath, "He said her blood pressure had dropped." Flack didn't understand the importance but nodded seriously anyway.

"Flack the symptoms are there. She's dehydrated, pale, bleeding, vomiting, sweating, bruised and she could barely stand up! And now the sudden drop in blood pressure."

Flack reached out and lightly squeezed Mac's shoulder but looked blankly at his friend as if to say 'I'm not following you but I'm sure it will be OK.'

"Flack. She's gone into hypovolemic shock." Mac almost cried, he didn't like the sound of it when it was said out loud; he couldn't loose her, not now. Flack just hoped that Mac was mistaken in some way.

The Doctor hadn't been gone 10 minutes but he was back. With again another concerned look across his face, that only made Mac more nervous.

The Doctor put out his hand and Mac shook it "Doctor Jones" he said

"Mac Taylor" he returned

"We are going to do an ultra sound to check for internal bleeding, I believe she's already in a hypovolemic shock state of two or three."

Flack sharply looked at Mac, Mac was rarely wrong. Mac was in a state of shock himself, he still didn't like it being said out loud, his ears wouldn't get used to the idea.

Two other people from the hospital staff came in, Flack couldn't be sure they were doctors or nurses but they were there to help Jo so it was fine with him. They helped the Doctor move the bed, Jo wasn't conscious so they'd have to do the scan while she was in a faint slumber, monitoring her every heartbeat. Mac was quickly at her side. The female Nurse put an oxygen mask over Jo's face and the Male helped Doctor Jones with another tube.

"I want to stay right with her" Mac said stubbornly, The doctor knew full well that the president himself wouldn't be able to get Mac to change his mind, so nodded and they quickly went out of the room leaving Flack alone.

"What does hypovolemic shock mean?" Flack asked out loud to himself, he didn't intend to be confused for the whole time Jo was in the hospital.

Lindsey suddenly came bursting through the door, to see Flack standing alone with a tear rolling from the corner of his eye.

"Where…?" Lindsey looked around and panic struck through her mind. "Tell me Jo's Ok" to which, Flack couldn't respond.

Flack drew in a deep breath for courage and looked up, praying that Jo would be Ok. "I'm not a scientist, Lindsey" Flack managed, "I just don't know…"

Flack sat down on one of the seats and put his head in his hands, "I don't know," he repeated.

Lindsey walked across the room from the door and sat besides him, "Tell me what the Doctor said" She tried, "I'm not a doctor, but a least we might get somewhere."

What she said was true, but Flack's mind went blank, he rubbed his face and swung his whole body back, looking up again and screwed up his face to help with his concentration, finally he managed "The Doctor said she is in a state of two or three hypovolmic shock" He paused and lent to look on the expression on her face, "I don't know Lindsey, I just don't know"

"She's internally bleeding?" Lindsey asked concerned, she wasn't sure exactly of what was going on but she too, knew it wasn't good. "Oh God!" she whispered as she put her hands to her face as tears began to stream.

-0-

Another Doctor met with Doctor Jones and handed him the results to Jo's blood tests.

"That's a low white cell count," the other Doctor said bluntly, Mac already didn't like his tone.

Mac held Jo's limp hand in his as they carted her through the hospital and into a room designed for ultra sound to find internal bleeding.

"I'm sorry," Other Doctor said, "Authorized personnel only, you're not aloud in here" Mac looked across to Doctor Jones for some help but he offered none.

"I can't leave her!" He exclaimed. The doctor looked down the corridor and said "You could use some coffee" The annoying doctor tried again.

Doctor Jones stepped in, "Mac," he said "We won't be very long and you could you a coffee, you can see her straight after I promise."

And with that Mac kissed Jo on the hand and walked out of the room, and headed for the vending machines and the coffee maker. They were right he did need a coffee. However being alone, he had time to reflect on the evening's events, something he hadn't yet done and he didn't really want to. Nevertheless pictures and images filled his mind anyway and took him back to just hours prior. He wondered whether if Detourus had survived, if Jo would have to testify. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled some coins out and into the slot and he waited for his black coffee.

Mac headed back to the Ultra sound room where Jo was being scanned, he'd only been a couple of minutes but he wasn't going to sit and do nothing. When he got there Jo had gone.

There was a nurse in the room who was surprised that someone had come in.

"I'm sorry Sir." She said, "Your not aloud in…"

Mac cut her off abruptly, "Where is the patient that was in this room?"

The nurse swallowed, slightly threatened by the short-tempered man that stood in the doorway of the small room. Mac sensed her fear, and apologized immediately. "I'm sorry" he said, "Do you know where she's gone"

The girl smiled at Mac and then remembered where the lady he was talking about was and then pulled a frown.

"Please." Mac pushed "Tell me where Jo is."

"She's gone into emergency surgery," She said softly. Mac felt dizzy and had to prop himself up against the doorframe in order to stay steady.

"A young lad came in about two minutes ago and handed a cell to Doctor Jones… The machine beeped and they rushed her into surgery" She saw Mac's horrified face and felt sympathy for him. "I'm sorry," she said, "I don't know any more" She sighed, "I'm training here" trying to explain herself.

Mac dragged his hand through his hair, as tears rolled down his cheeks; this was the very first time he cried freely. This news meant

"Where is she?" he asked awkwardly, "I'd like to go see her when they're done."

"Down the hall, on the left there is an elevator, go to floor 4, go left and then turn right, through the double doors and there is a waiting area there, you'll have to wait."

Mac nodded and he was off again, to get to the elevator he went past the room that Jo had started off in, where half of the team had gathered offering their full support. He had intended on going straight there, but instead he opened the door to explain what he knew to the team.

"Hey Mac," Sid greeted him, "How you doing?"

Mac looked at him and then around the team, they'd all guessed all right and he wasn't sure how to respond.

"Don't worry, Mac Jo'll be alright, she's tough" Lindsey offered her boss, however she was trying to convince herself more.

Flack stood up, "We're here for the both of you" to which most of the group nodded, "I just had a call from Danny and Adam, they're nearly done processing the scene and they said they have some links to an old warehouse on Roosevelt Island, so maybe we have a new lead there."

Mac nodded in appreciation of the news; at least they were getting somewhere. None of the team knew exactly what was happening but were all hoping for the best.

Hawks came in suddenly, "Hey Mac," He said and looked at the rest of the team.

"I went to see an old friend of mine, a doctor here, he was able to tell what happened to Jo."

The team, Mac included, almost leant in eagerly to listen, they all wanted to know that Jo was OK.

"She has hypovolmic shock stage 3 bordering on 4" He said, gesturing with his hands that it wasn't good. "She's got internal bleeding to her stomach and left kidney and she's gone straight into surgery now to repair the hemorrhage, she's also having trouble breathing on her own and she might need a blood transfusion, they don't know yet, depending on the blood she's already lost."

Mac collapsed, and only just managed to fall into a chair, this wasn't good news, he just wanted to be told that 'Jo is alright' but the longer they were there, the more information he got, the worse it seemed to get for Jo.

Mac looked across the room to where Ellie and Tyler were sitting, Ellie was sobbing furiously and Tyler was attempting to comfort her in his arms but was on the verge of crying himself. James was sitting awkwardly next to them; he had no idea what was going on except that someone was hurt. James looked at Mac to which Mac tried to smile, but he saw too much of Claire in him, a person he associated now with pain and hate.

Mac got up and walked back to the door again,

"Where are you going?" Flack asked cautiously, he didn't want his friend to do something rash.

"I'm going to wait outside of the surgery unit, if that's OK with you" Mac snapped back but then regretted it instantly. "Sorry, my head is everywhere"

"That's OK Mac." Flack said although he was laced with guilt of his own. "Do you mind if I come?"

Mac nodded in an agreeing manner and the two men walked out of the room. And continued up to the waiting room, so that way they'd be the first to know of any developments.

Every moment that passed felt like hours as Mac and Flack sat in silence. The suspense, the not knowing, the not daring to think the worst, was killing each and everyone of the team.

Finally 2 hours later Doctor Jones came trough the doors on the other side of the waiting area.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN **_

___**HEY GUYS FOR THE LATE UPDATE, BEEN BORED AT SCHOOL FOR MOST OF THE TIME.**_

___**THIS CHAPTER TOOK SOME RESEARCH AND I DON'T KNOW WHETHER ALL MY RESEARCH IS CORRECT SO MY APOLOGIES IF IT'S INCORRECT... :S  
><strong>_

_**I HOPE YOU ENJOYED MY MOST RECENT CHAPTER. **_

_**THANK YOU FOR STICKING WITH ME THIS LONG, GREATLY APPRECIATED. **_

_**ALSO APOLOGIES FOR MIXING BETWEEN SPELLINGS FROM THE US AND THE UK.  
><strong>_

_**PLEASE R&R WITH ANY IDEA'S YOU'D LIKE TO ADD (: THANK-YOU.**_


	12. Beat 0

**A/N **

**SORRY I HAVEN'T PUT A CHAPTER TOGETHER IN AGES, I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU!**  
><strong>SCHOOL DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THAT WE STUDENTS HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO THAN HOMEWORK<strong>  
><strong>I HAVEN'T HAD TIME TO PROOF READ ANYTHING SO FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME (:<strong>

**I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A FAB NEW YEAR**

**ENJOY**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 12<span>

Doctor Jones stood at the doorway for a second with a stern look upon his face. He glanced around the waiting area until his eyes met with Mac's

Mac was instantly worried; the look on the doctor's face didn't seem to offer much hope or optimism. However after a long held moment he smiled at Mac reassuringly. Although Mac wasn't convinced with this gesture it made him feel a glimpse of hope run pure in his veins.

Mac stood up as the Doctor swiftly approached towards Mac and Flack

"We have repaired the haemorrhage, the surgery was a success." The kind doctor smiled at the two men. He liked giving out good news to the family and friends of his patients, that is why he did the job he did, he liked doing good among society.

"Can I…" Mac tried as the words fumbled around in his head. Finally the words reached from the back of his mind to his tongue. "Can I see her?" Although In reality Mac knew what his answer would be. He didn't care. What did he have if not for hope?

The doctor replied with a rhythmic tone as if he'd said the words many times before. "Jo needs rest, her blood pressure needs to remain stable, she can't go back into shock." He waved his hands around in aid to his explaination, his gestures where somewhat patronising towards Mac, as he knew what the doctor was talking about, being a man of science himself. Mac didn't give a damn about that right now.

"But I…" Mac started to converse but the doctor interrupted quickly that made him sound harsh, with authority.

"She can't be put under any stress."

Mac shot the doctor a horrified look to say 'you think I'm gonna put her under stress? Is that what you think!' to which the doctor looked down at his shoes and he caved. It wasn't proper procedure to let Mac in, but his personal views clouded his medical opinion and so he offered Mac a slight nod to show his understanding.

"She's in recovery unit 4, room 12" The Doctor held a long moment of thought, he wasn't supposed to reveal this information yet but he'd grow a slight fondness towards Mac and he knew he just wanted to be there, holding her hand when she woke up, which wouldn't be long now. If the situation was reversed, he knew what he would want just as much as the next person.

Mac immediately walked towards the door but before he went too far the doctor reached out to Mac's shoulder.

"leave her rest" he said in a warning tone and then let him walk towards finally seeing Jo again. Flack started to follow but Doctor Jones intercepted him by stepping in front of him. To Flack's horrified look the doctor explained,

"Let Mac be alone with her" he said softly, then Flack and the Doctor walked back downstairs to where the rest of the team anxiously awaited.

-0-

Mac rushed across the corridor and followed the signs to the Recovery units; he couldn't remember the last time he'd run with such urgency. Finally he found the correct hospital wing, he was so concerned about finding her, he almost scat a nurse over, running around a corner, to which he quickly apologised and blasted through the next set of double doors. Although he knew she was safe, safe from any further harm from Katherine or the Beast, he still wanted to see her as quickly as humanly possible for purely selfish reasons.

He rushed through the door with the number 4-12 on it. Suddenly his speed came to a halt, there was no need for his hast, she hadn't awoken yet and was peacefully sleeping. Mac's deep breaths filled the room, he looked past her bandages, she had lacerations on her face where she had been cut, and had defensive scrapes and bruises all over her body. She was beautiful, no matter what happened to her, nothing would ever change that.

He regained his breathing pace to more or less normal and sat down on the chair that was positioned next to the bed, took hold of her hand in his and kissed her tenderly. He lent back into the chair and put her hand near his face. He never wanted to feel like that again, he had felt so lost when Jo's life was hanging on by threads. He felt weak as he could do nothing about what had happened, he wanted to wrap her in his arms and never let go, never put her in harms way again.

If the last few days Mac had begun to realise how much Jo meant to him. Last week, he would have been concerned about this whole nightmare but not to the same extent that he was now. He almost felt that she should take her out of the Lab completely; although they spent every second together she would never be completely safe there.

However on the other hand Mac knew that she'd never leave the lab; she was too fond of the team, too fond of doing her bit in society, and catching the bad guys when they slip up. It was her determination, that first gripped Mac's heart in the first place when they met.

Jo's hand intertwined with Mac's and her eyes gently flickered open.

-0-

"Adam?" Danny asked

"Yeup?" Adam replied, he was getting tired and after the night they'd just pulled, what they really needed was either some sleep or failing that, at least some caffeine.

"Did you process the fibres we collected from the office?"

"Most of them… I got erh…" Adam yawned although he desperately tired to conceal it. "So…" He continued, trying to ignore the temptation to yawn again, "The white fibres are I think from Jo's blouse, some of them had Jo's blood on it. We'll need a closer comparison. There were some fibre's near to Katherine they are unknown and Detourus's clothes haven't been sent back here yet."

"Good" Danny looked around the lab, it was pretty quite without the team there, there were a few lab techs around but other than that it felt deserted. He missed the livelihood of the team, it wasn't the same without them, without Jo being well.  
>"Shall we get back to the crime scene, it'll be getting light soon, we could take some pictures of their escape route." He paused thoughtfully, shook his head as to dismiss an idea but then said it anyway "Something else that's curious, Detourus can't fly a plane, so he had someone helping them."<p>

Adam let out a small whimpering groan, but nodded. He hoped that it was just ONE person helping Detourus. He just wanted Jo to be okay, if this had been any other victim, Adam would have given in and walked right out of the lab. Adam cared greatly for Jo, although he hadn't liked her to begin with, they had become great friends over the last year. He had worked through his shift and then he'd gone into overtime, now he had begun the next day's shift.

-0-

"So? Any news?" Lindsey asked as Flack reached the room they'd gathered in.

Flack hadn't gone straight there, he'd left the doctor before they'd reached the room and walked around a while, got a coffee, called the precinct twice and came close to winning a fist fight with a wall.

"No," He said and looked down. He'd been gone hours with the intent of returning to the team with information, but he had come back empty handed.

"Jo's out of surgery" He said, remembering, although he tried not to. He didn't want to let his mind slip into a trance of what happened last time someone he cared about was seriously injured in this very hospital. Jess.

Sheldon put his hand on Flacks shoulder, "We know, she got out about an hour ago"

Flack lifted his head level to Sheldon's and smiled the best he could. "I know" He determined as his eye wandered over and caught sight of the clock on the other side of the room. He stumbled backwards and collapsed into the chair behind him and slumped down, burring his head in his hands.

The team knew exactly how Don was feeling, they'd all been pretty close to Jess, and they didn't want to think the worst for Jo.

"I'm going to go bend some arms, see if I can't find out how she's doing" Sheldon said attempting to lighten up the atmosphere a little and again he slipped out of the room. But in reality silence fell again and depressing thoughts filled the atmosphere in his place. Making the ticking of the clock more apparent and the muffling noises of people and sirens outside a loud drone.

-0-

Jo turned towards Mac on the bed.

"Maa-aa-ac!" Jo was still croaky but overjoyed that his was the first face she saw after what had happened. He smiled down at her and kissed her hand again.

Mac was just relieved that things were looking up. He brushed a stray strand of hair back so he could admire her beauty and he smiled.

"How are you doing?" He asked her

She'd been through a lot, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to hear a truthful answer but listened intensely anyway.

"I am now" She replied. Jo smiled on the level with Mac, of which they spent an immeasurable amount of time in a moment of complete love.

Pain broke their trance as a beeper increased its beat and Jo gripped her abdomen with one hand and squeezed Mac's hand with the other. A nurse came in, and increased Jo's dosage of medication.

"I think it's best you leave" She told Mac.

Mac knew then and there that that certainly was not going to happen. The only way they'd get him to leave was in a body bag.

But before Mac could respond in a reasonable manner, Jo squeezed his hand again.

"No." Jo said shortly, "No, I think it's best y_ou _leave" she stumbled through the words in her croaky voice.

"With all due respect Mrs Josephson…"

"I beg your pardon!" Jo shot her a death stare as she was getting worked up now.

The nurse looked down at her clipboard and then tilted her head in confusion. "You're not Jo Josephson?"

"No, that's my Ex husbands last name." Jo said bitterly

The nurse looked embarrassed, she figured it was an error on her part. She was mistaken. Mac realised this as Russell walked past the window. Before this Mac had been confused at the mistake, but now he understood, Russell and his FBI influence.

"Danville is Jo's last Name." Mac offered before Russell opened the door and complicated the situation further.

The nurse felt the tension in the room as Russell entered and decided to abort the 'Get Mac out of there mission'

Mac stood up to shake Russell's hand out of politeness, but to do so he let go of Jo's hand; this made it obvious that he and Jo were more than just work colleges. Jo looked slightly guilty, but Mac didn't care that Russell hadn't found out until now. Russell jerked his hand away cruelly to obviously convey that he didn't want to wave a white flag just yet.

"What are you doing here Russ?" Jo staggered but before he answered she made her own mind up. "You know what? I don't care. Just get out."

Russell ignored her, not because he wasn't interested in what she had to say, but because he was more interested in her newfound private life.

"So there was reason for me to be jealous then!" Russell's jealousy was apparent in his self-answering question.

"Go away Russ" Jo sighed

"No, I hold your medical rights. I get to say what happens to you! Not _him_" He turned to Mac and spat the words at him. Mac angrily looked at him, as a warning to calm down otherwise he might get decked.

"Well luckily," Jo said, I'm in a fit state to make my own mind up what happens to me now. So get lost!"

At this point Mac had heard enough and so squared up to Russell. Although Russell was physically bigger than he was Mac was stronger and quicker and so if it came to it Mac could physically remove Russell from the situation before things went too far out of control.

"You heard her." Mac said evenly although he wanted to punch his lights out there and then, "Get out." With the word 'out' he nodded forcefully towards the door.

Russell wasn't used to being told what to do, but he didn't give in. "No, I'm just going to wait here. Thanks"

"I thought you'd changed, Russ." Jo said, No you're still a selfish BASTAR-" before she could finish she gasped inwards and then yelled out in pain, within a spilt second Mac was at her side again, holding her hand tight. Jo's face screwed up as she clutched to her abdomen, she took a few deep breaths trying to conceal the pain. She threw herself forward into a fetal position and then hard back onto the hospital bed. Her hand went limp in Mac's.

Darkness enclosed in on her although she fought against it. Fire flared through her freely, rage built up and exploded. She was so angry with Russ.

She tried to push the darkness away but she was loosing, she needed Mac, She needed his strong arm wrap around her and tell her everything was going to be all right, that no one else mattered. She needed her Kids. Their laughs and his voice filled her mind as she slipped out of consciousness.

Mac had a good cocktail of emotions hammering at the surface. His first priority was Jo, but he was being torn away from her by one of the hospitals medical staff. He harshly shrug the nurse off and moved clear away from her, then irritably sat down on a chair on the opposite side of the room.

-0-

The whole team were moving out of the room they'd gathered in. It was a medical room and needed to be used from medical purposes. They hovered around for a short while waiting for someone to take them somewhere they could wait. They were all desperate to see Jo, she wasn't just a college but a trusted friend and they were all worried for her safety, even though Detourus was chained to a hospital bed and Katherine was dead, no harm was to come to her now.

Russell walked out of the elevator opposite them; he looked wound up and cross.

"What's he doing here?" Lindsey whispered to Sheldon.

"I… Urgh…" Sheldon stalled, he for one always had a bad unexplainable feeling about this ex-husband of Jo's. When they asked her, she'd spool some random excuse of falling out of love, but no one had been told the real reason.

Sheldon looked into Lindsey's eyes and he could see she was as worried as he was.

Russ looked over at them and they suddenly went into natural positions. He approached slowly.

"I suppose you've heard?" He said strongly and sadly with authority.

"Looks shot around the group"

"Heard What" Sid asked nervously.

"Oh?" And With that Russ gave a look of arrogance and stormed of out of the door.

"I'll go ask" Sheldon said and slipped into a Doctor's office.

"Where's Mom?" James asked out loud, but to no one in particular.

The motherly instinct took over and Lindsey clammed up. What would Lucy be like if something happened to her or Danny. What _should _she say? She offered a reassuring look at James and knelt down to his level.

"James… your mom, she…"

"She left me again hasn't she?" James asked with a tear in his eye.

In truth Lindsey didn't know what would happen to James next, what Mac would do.

"She didn't mean to" Lindsey offered and suddenly had to bite her tongue before she spoke ill of the dead.

Flack stood up. "I'm going to the lab, see if I can find Danny, see if those mugs have found anything yet" He was trying to lighten the mood but it just came across as dull.

"Okay" Lindsey said as he walled out.

-0-

Danny and Adam were back at the crime scene, it was 5 o'clock on an autumn morning and the sun was thinking about shedding some light on New York City.

They wandered into the hanger, not really sure what to find, it just felt better doing something to help rather than sitting waiting.

The hanger lights flickered on. By the small jet plane there was a small man, in a green hooded jumper.

"You're not supposed to be in here…" Danny said "Can't you read?"

It took a second look to realise that the man was bleeding and bent over in pain. Danny rushed to him.

"Are you alright?" he strained his voice a little in embarrassment for his sarcastic out burst seconds earlier.

Adam hung back; he had a bad feeling about this. His gut told him that this was much bigger than some jealousy thing over Mac… Not that somebody wouldn't get jealous over Mac… His thoughts got jumbled and confused, all he knew was that this was something big.

The bleeding guy turned to Danny slightly; he was wearing a black balaclava. He dropped to the floor while some one else shouted,

"FREEZE!"

"The FBI?" Danny Glanced back at Adam who was equally confused.

Danny and Adam Simultaneously lifted their hands above their heads in a surrender position. The guns were aimed at them!

-0-

Mac was irritated with the Nurse that kept pestering him to leave. As doctors and nurses fumbled around Jo's bedside.

"Am I in the way here?" Mac said sharply showing his irritated mood, slightly loosing his cool. He was still on the other side of the room out of the doctor's way, he just wanted to be there for her. Why didn't she understand this?

"No… But…" Desperate calls for desperate measures Mac thought to himself. He flashed his badge and her silence fell peacefully as she backed out of the room leaving the doctor's do their jobs and Mac alone.

Doctor Jones ran in hastily, unlike Mac's hast earlier, his hast was necessary.

The Doctor shot Mac a harsh look as if to say, 'I told you no stress!'

Shame fell upon Mac and he blamed himself. Emotional pains tightened his chest. He felt a coldness sweep over him, like his soul was drowning. Like Jo and him were connected with synchronised heartbeats, if hers stopped then so would his. Please Jo! Pull through. Pull through!

"She's Crashing!" The doctor yelled to another nurse.

"JO?" Mac stood up to which he was shot looks from everyone in the room. He sat again, feeling worse.

Panic burst through his veins and clenched his heart with a harsh tug. Tears freely streamed down his face and he made no attempt to hold them back. Fire roared through him. He was scared. It was a new feeling for him.

"Paddles!" The Doctor said urgently. A medical trolley was pushed to the bedside as the doctor opened Jo's hospital gown while gel was applied to the equipment.

Mac forced his head up to look at the medical monitors measuring Jo's non-existent heart beat.

"CLEAR" The shorter, younger doctor assisting shouted and Doctor Jones Shocked Jo, Trying to restart her heart.

Mac blindly looked into the screen. Her Beat read 0.

* * *

><p><strong>AS ALWAYS FEEL FREE TO REVIEW, I'LL TRY AND UPLOAD MORE... SORRY FOR THE WAIT...<strong>

**I HOPE YOU LIKED IT... NERVOUS BECAUSE I'VE LEFT IT SO LONGGGG... 3**


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N  
><strong>_

**_ Hey Guys thank you for sticking with me for this long... Okay so for this chapter I did ask for some advise so thank you to nexis44 and to Lozzien Lavender_****_ for the great idea that got me through a brain block (:_**

**_Not a Big fan of the number 13 so I hope this chapter turned out OK...  
><em>**

* * *

><p>Chapter 13 (Unlucky for some)<p>

Danny and Adam had their hands on their heads awaiting someone to make a move of some kind. Who were these people?

The sun rose and light spilt into the hanger; it was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky. A black SUV pulled up into the runway directly in front of the hanger, obstructing some of the light. The doors opened and two men dressed in black suits, black ties and back sunglasses stepped out.

Adam was nearly whimpering, he and Danny had been in a hostage situation together before. The memory of that day assaulted him; he was nearly not brave enough to get out of there last time. What happens if he really wasn't brave enough this time? He looked at the two men approaching the hanger through the glass door he immediately thought that they themselves had just been abducted from the men in black movie. But the seriousness returned quickly, he just wanted to be back at the lab, the safest place he knew.

The men walked to the hanger. The first was strong and defined, he walked with the highest authority and he seemed to be in charge of everyone around, he had short black hair and olive skin. The second was tall and broad; he also had black hair and had a strange familiarity about him. He also had authority but not over his shorter friend. Although he did seem to have some influence over the gunmen.

With a click of the taller mans figures the gunmen withdrew their weapons and the simultaneously placed them to their left side. One of them stepped forward he was a short man, in his late 30's with short-cropped blonde hair, and sparkling blue eyes, hr stood forward to them.

"Adam Ross and Daniel Messer?" He said looking from one to another.

Danny was building up the courage to question them, he turned to the blonde guy "Who wants to know?" he spat, disapproving of the guns that had been aimed at them.

The broad guy took a step forward and took of his sunglasses

"The FBI" He paused to let Danny and Adam take in what they were seeing.

"Russell?" Danny said with dismay and swallowed hard.

Looks shot across the room between Danny and Adam. This was bad. No, bad was an understatement.

"It's them," Russell said.

The Boss signaled four bodyguards to Danny and Adam who escorted them out of the building.

-0-

The Lab was empty but for the technicians, Flack tried calling for Danny and Adam but he had no such luck. He went to a lab where Danny was logged on to a computer and looked through the Data that had been collected.

Although flack couldn't make much sense of the calculations on the screen he hoped this was a slam-dunk case. From a police point of view they knew who was behind Jo's abduction, one of the perpetrators had been shot and killed and the other in hospital custody, they knew it was out of jealousy and they had no proof of anybody else helpi-

He stopped in the middle of his thought and looked down at a sketch Danny had drawn of the escape route and scribbled 'Plane' and 'No pilot.' Suddenly Flack's heart plummeted. This wasn't over.

He pulled out his phone from his pocket and called Danny.

It rang for along time before it was answered, "Hey, Danny are you okay?... Where are you?..." The call was cut off before Danny answered the 'where are you question'. Danny's voice sounded strained, athough he didn't want to get ahead of himself perhaps he had just had bad reception. Flack's gut told him something was wrong, something bad.

He rubbed his hands over his face before calling Sheldon.

"Hey, Sheldon… Yeah everything's okay" He bit his lip at his lie. "Who's at the Hospital? … All right Ok, I've got something to do first… Don't let the team leave… No, I'll tell you what's going on later... Not over the phone" He didn't intend to but he'd alarmed Sheldon a little.

Flack stormed out.

-0-

Mac's stomach tightened. The monitor still read 0. Single seconds went on for hours at a time. Every breath he took without Jo was torture; it felt like sticking pins into his eyes. His heart began to race; and every beat was agony because it was beating for Jo, pleading with hers so they could beat rhythmically together. Mac's emotions were heightened, more so when Claire died (the first time). He felt more for Jo that he did anybody else. He wanted his arms around her slender body; he wanted to be the first person she saw in the morning and the last one at night. He wanted a family; he wanted to be part of her family.

His mind took him back to just days previously; he'd not admitted his feelings for her then although he'd come close to just kissing her there and then and be done with it. They'd been working what seemed like a big case at the time together, a serial killer who'd killed 4 people and was on a rampage for at least another 2. The team had analyzed every single piece of trace, fibre, DNA and atom at the crime scene. Everyone in the team knew that Samuel Carpenter was their perpetrator, but no substantial evidence linked him to the scene, only the victim's phone records, and to a calling card and a whole bunch of circumstantial evidence. Jo being determined as always waltzed in, in the middle of an interview he was having with Flack and Mac, she asked to have a word with Mac outside. And so he stepped out of the room with Jo while she glared at the cold-hearted killer. Her words were 'I don't know if this will work, but we're going to have to try.' She held out a picture of an ex con. 'This is Samuel's Dad, he's doing a stint in jail for selling drugs to minors at a school. He got 15 years. This is his friend,' she showed Mac a second photograph of a bald guy with a beard, late 20's. 'He was released 2 months ago due to a technicality; the police officer that arrested him was arrested himself. Jack Jeffery's here was released although he was supposed to spend at least another 5 years behind bars. I think this is who he's been helping Carpenter in there'  
>Mac said 'Follow the Evidence Jo, not you're heart,' to which she immediately replied, 'it's not my heart I'm following Mac, its my gut.' Something that made him smile, as he'd used that excuse once for her and to which he could not protest. She waltzed back into the interview room while Mac walked into the viewing room to secretly watch through the glass, that way he could look at Jo without her noticing. She showed Carpenter the Photo's and watched the sweat accumulate on his forehead. Her determination kept her pushing the case forward. 'We know you were working with him, how does life sound with no parole? Better that the needle?' she paused for effect. 'He confessed, he was the first to give you up to save his sorry little ass. What we don't know, is why.' The 25 year old dropped his defenses immediately and assumed he'd been caught. 'I'm not going to tell you why! Those girls deserved what I did to them! I killed them and nobody will find out why!' he had screamed in a fury.<br>God! Jo was so damn good at what she did. Mac grinned foolishly, he was proud of her, it was a good job she couldn't see him.

Another second had passed and Mac felt his own heart beat thudding in his ears. It strained him emotionally, fire burst through his soul burning his insides, covering his heart in smoke and tar. He felt as if he physically needed Jo to live, otherwise he'd choke.

"CLEAR"

Jo was shocked again.

-0-

Sheldon had not long been back from visiting the doctor when Flack had called and he had not had time to explain what had happened with Jo to the rest of the team still at the hospital. Flack hadn't given him much chance to tell him either. The doctor himself wasn't sure what had happened within the last few minutes but he held back the plain truth about what he did know. He'd told Sheldon that she'd deteriorated, but hidden to what extent.

"How's Jo? Was that Flack?" Lindsey asked, concerned.

"Yeah, Russ over dramatizing. Yeah it was Flack"

"What did he want? Has he seen Danny? He hasn't text me in a while."

"I don't know." Sheldon glanced around "He sounded odd though."

Lindsey had about a million things going through her mind. She was exhausted, "Can you let me know when he see's Danny?" and she lay across three chairs in order to get some sleep.

"Sure" Sheldon didn't have the heart to tell her his gut feeling. It would be better that she had at least some sleep rather than her panicking about something that wasn't confirmed yet. It could be nothing. However he was trying to find Danny and Adam; Don's unstable voice just proved that he was having difficulties with that very task.

James was fast asleep in another chair across the corridor, on the floor next to him was Tyler who was also close to sleep and in his arms was Ellie who was resting. This was a hectic day; they should all be somewhere more suitable than this. Hospitals were not places for kids.

Sid was slumped in a leather armchair next to his wife, who'd joined him about an hour ago.

-0-

Danny and Adam were both in the shinny Black SUV. The blonde was driving with the boss next to him in the passenger seat. Russ was sat in seats that collapsed into the trunk behind Danny and Adam.

"Russ, What's going on?" Danny asked irritated that nobody would explain why they were being treated like criminals. They'd done nothing wrong!

"Marino" Russell called to the front of the car.

The leader turned around, "Russ" He said with a thick Italian accent.

"The Safe House?" Russ asked

"Yes"

Danny's detective brain was on the go, thinking about what was happening, The FBI must be mistaken or dirty, and the Italian looking people with guns resembled an American/Italian mobster gang.

Russ pulled two syringes filled with a sedative from his pocket and stabbed Danny and Adam simultaneously so that they would not know where they were when they woke up in a few hours time.

-0-

Relief swept over Mac's heart when the monitor started to beep frantically, showing her heartbeat.

Doctor Jones glanced at another monitor that was tilted away from Mac. His face dropped slightly, this was why he didn't like having patients' families in the room while an emergency was underway. The Doctors expression was only very slight, but enough for Mac to notice.

"Epinephrine, Stat." Doctor Jones said quickly in a strictly business tone, a nurse brought a syringe to the doctor immediately.

There was moment's pause of doubt; a skipped heart beat within Mac's chest. The Doctor injected her with it to try and prevent another cardiac arrest and get her blood flow circulating evenly again.

"She's stable"

The Doctor walked up to Mac, "You look like you could do with a Coffee."

The monitors were now beating regularly, but Jo was still unconscious. Mac Stood up and ignored Doctor Jones while the other medical team moved towards the door in order to be of some use elsewhere in the hospital. Mac sat on the chair where he'd sat before while he watched her sleep. He held her hand and squeezed it gently sadly she was limp and lifeless, she seemed to be in a deep sleep.

The Doctor hadn't left; he was hovering by the door, waiting to talk to Mac.

"Mac," He tried again, but Mac refused to answer, if he wanted to be in his own world with Jo right now, then that's where he'd be.

"Legally I have to tell you to go home and get some sleep." The Doctor began, to which Mac looked up.

"I don't want to have to do that Detective Taylor, Please come with me and get a coffee, She's not going anywhere."

Mac seemed reluctant to leave her, she'd just suffered a cardiac arrest and he still wasn't satisfied that she was completely out of the woods yet. Perhaps that's why the doctor wanted to talk to him.

"We'll come straight back. You could see your friends downstairs, I'm sure they'd want to know what's going on." The Doctor tried again.

Mac stood, kissed Jo on the cheek and walked to the doorway where the doctor was standing.

"Alright, A coffee. 10 minutes." He said quietly, as not to alert Jo that he was leaving.

Mac walked straight past him and headed for the cafeteria, along the hall.

"Mac I understand this must be an upsetting time for you, how long have you and Jo been together?"

Mac tensed, the doctor had been so nice to begin with and now he wanted a get to know you session? It was none of his business! If he understood now, he certainly wouldn't if he told him three days. Technically only a kiss had happened, they hadn't yet officially announced to anybody that they were a couple. But in reality Mac and Jo had been together longer than that, they wouldn't look at anybody else in the way they looked at each other, they'd glance across from microscopes at work just to catch a glimpse. If a case had gone sour, all she had to do was smile and the world seemed a brighter place.

"Nearly two years" Mac lied, he didn't like lying, but to be honest with himself, it was near enough the truth to what he felt.

It was nearly two years ago she came to the lab, it was the day they connected, the day he fell for her, and he just didn't realize it at that time.

The Doctor nodded, he had no reason to disbelieve him but sensed that Mac was a private man who liked to keep himself to himself and might not necessarily tell the truth. He shrugged and quickened his walking speed to keep up Mac's pace.

When they reached the cafeteria Mac immediately got himself a black coffee, not wasting time with milk or suger. He took a sip in order to wake himself up; he was running on fumes. He thought of something Jo had once told him when he'd stayed at the office overnight and one case had rolled straight into another.

"Go home Mac, get a couple hours sleep…Who knows a shower and a tooth brush may make it feel like eight." His mind told him to say 'I will if you come' but he would never be that outspoken in front of her. He wanted to stay; he wanted to work the case with her. But in the end, he did as he was told and went home. When trying to sleep all he could think was Jo. Flack had been the comic of the day, Cops and their cookies…

Thinking of Flack, he should really go speak to the others.

Doctor Jones sat down at a table.

"I said I'd Get Coffee. I've got coffee." Mac irritably pointed at his coffee cup as proof. "Lets go." He said shortly, glancing at the door. He didn't want to be away from Jo for long, even if she didn't know he was there, he wanted to be there for himself to.

"Mac." The Doctor said sternly

Mac didn't like his tone, nor the way he was being treated, usually he was the boss.

"Look Doctor I appreciate everything you've done…"

"Mac," The doctor interrupted "There's a problem."

Mac hoped that this conversation wouldn't happen. Now, he'd be happy to talk about his private life if the doctor would instead, reveal that Jo is fine and should be out of here in a few days. His heart told him that that wasn't going to happen. Damn, he thought, following his heart.

"I gather you realized what happened in there."

"Cardiac arrest" Mac struggled, but said without showing too much emotion.

"Because of the stress caused," The Doctor looked at Mac, trying to convey that he'd gathered it wasn't his fault "her blood pressure rose, causing her coronary arteries to narrow and her heart muscle to be starved of oxygen." He paused to see if Mac was following, but of course he was listening so intently he was hanging on every word. Even though he knew knowing Jo's condition wasn't necessarily going to help her.

The Doctor continued quickly because he hadn't gotten to the point. "Because of her hypovolemic shock earlier she had an unhealthy cardiac hypertrophy, before she got worked up it was nothing to severe to worry about, she just needed her blood pressure to remain stable. Once we shocked her, her heartbeat was irregular, so we used epinephrine to get blood circulation back to normal, releasing the stress on the heart muscle itself. She's stabilized now but she's in a coma, Mac."

Mac suddenly went ridged and tense. His emotions were hammering down his many layers of defenses, that over the years he'd learnt so skillfully to conceal. All he could think of was killing Detourus and punching Russell into oblivion. Deep down he knew that neither of them deserved to be given the time of day right now, all that really mattered was Jo and her well being, Ellie and Tyler…

That was when the thought struck him, he immediately felt ashamed for ignoring him for the last 24 hours, what was he going to with James?

Mac got up and walked out of the cafeteria heading towards the elevator. He wanted to do the right thing. The thing was he wasn't sure what the right thing was.

-0-

Danny woke up first, side by side with Adam in the middle of a lounge floor in what he assumed was the 'The safe house'

Except he didn't feel very safe, the FBI, for no apparent reason, were practically kidnapping them!

Danny sat up, he immediately checked his pockets and searched for his gun, he had no possessions. They'd taken everything including what he was really was looking for, his phone. He glanced around, annoyed. He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary; it was a large, open plan room, with antiques. They had been lying on what looked like an expensive rug, there were no photos around and there was an old stingy smell, but he gathered that was from the antiques rather than the building itself. It was too big to be an old building and it didn't seem to have the character that old buildings have.

Nobody, that he could see, was in the room but they weren't going to be left alone either, not after they'd been to all that trouble in capturing them in the first place.

He wondered whether the team had realized their sudden departure, how Lindsey was doing, how Lucy was doing. He put his head in his hands as he slumped up onto an old sofa. If this really was the FBI, did they have anything to worry about?

Adam groaned, and stretched before he opened his eyes. At first he looked relaxed, then confusion swept over his facial features. Then he remembered what had happened.

"Hey sleepy head" Danny said, he didn't want to make the atmosphere to seem depressing.

"What?" Adam said and then remembered being stabbed with a sedative. "Oh" and then also gradually got up and sat on another sofa opposite the one that Danny was sat on. He also looked around at his surroundings and checked his pockets, He and Danny had been trained to observe things, it didn't stop at work, the whole team were always constantly thinking.

It wasn't long before Marino came in with his two sidekicks, Russ and Blondie.

"Nice sleep gentlemen?" Marino asked, his Italian accent pronounced.

Danny and Adam had their lip sealed; they didn't want to talk to him. They wanted to talk to Russ.

"So here's the deal," Marino said finally, once the silence had got the better of him. "I am a powerful man." He began like a true mobster, he turned and looked back at Russ for a moment to reinforce his next point, "I am not from the FBI, but I have some very strong influences there." He paused to see whether he'd get a reaction, but Danny and Adam never really saw eye to eye with Russ's FBI principles and so tried to contain their surprise about him being dirty.

"If you give me what I want then I will ensure your safety, if however you don't then…" He looked from Danny to Adam and back again, "Let's just say I can't, and I can't ensure the safety of your loved ones either. Lindsey, Lucy or you're lovely Mom Adam."

"Who are you?" Adam demanded, he surprised himself and both Danny and Marino too.

"Antonio Marino, Leader of some certain type of organized crime" Marino answered with deliberate precision on the words 'Marino,' 'Leader,' and 'Crime'.

Danny had to rack his brains hard before the answer came to him. Marino was a name he'd learnt about in high school in a history lesson.

"Luciano Marino" Danny barely whispered out load. But Marino suddenly turned sharply and stared at him, his high tuned ears picked up on his grandfather's name.

"The Mafia." Danny said more profound, he had a slight arrogant confidence about himself that he wasn't sure about.

"You knew that already, didn't you?" The short, blonde, blue eyed, man stepped forwards.

Danny was slightly confused to why this annoying, dangerous little man would come to such a conclusion but played with a poker face.

"No" he said, shaking his head.

"You Lie!" The man pulled a gun on Danny; this man also had an accent, not from an Italian descent but from a German background.

"Whoa, there." Danny put his hands; palms out, up in front of his chest. "Take it easy."

The man huffed and withdrew his weapon and placed it by his side once again when Marino looked back at him.

"They know." He said to Marino quietly and with that he backed down to the door.

-0-

Flack was at the crime scene and had been for nearly an hour; The FBI had taken control of the case and were being particularly secretive, not revealing the goings on inside the hanger.

"We have to collect the evidence you're men took from this crime scene" FBI Agent Miller said as she looked down at her note pad.

Flack hadn't expected to have to talk to a woman about this case, but he didn't mind. He smiled at her,

"Ahh… I'm afraid that's not going to be possible," Flack paused and shook his head, "Sinclair said this is a high priority case, the NYPD crime lab have already collected the evidence. Obviously you can work _with_ us on this case but you cannot take over. The evidence must remain in our custody until it is processed otherwise the custody chain will break and the evidence won't be submersible in court."

"Need I remind you, Detective Flack, that you _are_ talking to the FBI."

"Last time I checked, the FBI were there to stop and prevent crimes, not commit them," Flack said shortly.

She sighed and her auburn red hair fell in front of her face. "Well, Agent Russell Josephson wants the evidence and I don't think he cares how he gets it." She said, brushing it aside. She looked slightly worried but was unable to speak, she wasn't an agent investigating this scene, she was just one of the reinforcements and she hadn't be told much more than Flack had.

She saw the expression change across Flack's face.

"You know him?" She asked.

"You could say that." Flack nodded once solemnly, she smiled and nodded.

"I take it you don't approve," she said still looking at her notes, wondering what to do with the extra 100 agents Agent Josephson had insisted on.

Flack looked up at her, "No."

Flack was annoyed; obviously Russ had ordered the case to become FBI business just because his ex-wife had been involved.

He ruffled through his hair trying to think where Danny and Adam could have gone. It had been hours.

"Have you seen two guys, by any chance?" Flack asked Agent Miller out of the blue.

She looked up at him and then around, "I see lots of guys," she said prompting him to give a description.

"Urgh…" Flack stumbled, slightly embarrassed "Two CSI's form the NYPD. Danny Messer and Adam Ross. Both quite short," Flack lifted his hand to around Danny's height relative to him. "Danny's got short brown hair. Adam's about this tall" He lowered his hand an inch or so lower "kind of a geek, goofy lookin'."

"There was some commotion about an hour ago, but there were three people, apparently some one broke in and shot someone. Two short, _goofy lookin'_ guys went with Russell and two other agents I've never seen before and the bleeding guy I don't know where he went, there was no ambulance or anything so I have no idea."

Flack gave out a confused look to the rest of the world.

"Oh.?"

-0-

Danny was getting slowly and more increasingly agitated. "Know what?" he demanded. Adam did nothing but look sheepishly at Danny; he just wanted to be out of there.

Marino paced the room to show his hierarchy status, deciding what was true and what was speculation.

"What I want," He looked up at the ceiling and back to meet Danny's gaze. "Is Detourus set free."

Confusion and surprise filled both Danny's and Adam's Faces and they both stole a second to glance at each other, this made Marino smile. Marino didn't think it would matter so he decided to satisfy their curiosity for his own amusement.

"Back in Italy, after my grandfather was deported, he set a vendetta on those who'd cause him to flee the US."

This Danny remembered from his school days, 10 American Mafia Clans had been wiped out chronologically over a period of two years.

It wasn't something that was on the curricular it was just something that the nutty history teacher wanted to teach them, just because he enjoyed it. Danny never thought back then that the information he learnt might actually be of some use in the future, although he never seemed to learn much at school.

"He could not do it alone" Marino continued "and so he had many other families, Clans and associates help him. One of them Detourus' gang and another, I hear you know all about Danny" He glared at Danny who was maintaining the stare. "Tanglewood."

Danny held his poker face although he wanted to retaliate, but Marino's game was based on their reactions and so he sat perfectly still. Danny could hear the blood boiling through his veins but he ignored his instincts. He couldn't take down a leader of a Mafia organization without being shot.

Disappointed with the response Marino carried on. "In 1981" He started as if he was telling a life long story and looked through the window. "Eight different mobsters clans from the remaining families, that my grandfather killed, held a vote. They decided to kill him without their boss's permission." He paused and turned to face the room once again. "Forbidden in Mafia Law." He gestured with his hand in an explaining motion to pronounce the importance of this detail. "Because they knew they'd never get authorization." He continued.

Marino paced a few steps back into the middle of the room, not knowing whether he should continue. The Mafia were a very private and secretive group, talking to the cops was strictly forbidden. However, now at least, he was talking about ancient history and he didn't expect them to give him what he wanted. As he said previously he had no use for them then.

"He was shot and killed in a shooting while he was sitting beside my father, Luciano, on a park bench. Once he realized what was happening he decided to play dead and save himself, he had been shot but nothing that would be lethal. They were dumped into a trunk and driven to New York; the driver abandoned the car in a back street and set it on fire. Luciano banged on the trunk lid with his fists until a German named Benedikt Klein rescued him, my father rewarded him greatly and over time they became great friends."

To Danny, things were starting to make more sense, although he'd learnt this Mafia history before, he could now see how it fit into the situation. The short blonde haired man was obviously a relative of Benedikt Klein's and that's what he was doing here. To Adam, this was new and he was having a hard time keeping up and so he stayed quiet.

"My Father became the boss of The D'Moretti Mafia Organization after the death of his father, Lorenzo. Shortly after, Bruno Costa who had been a consigliere was also killed. Luciano made Klein his second in command in Costa's place" Marino paused. "Making an exception to the Mafia rule of at least half an Italian bloodline." Something that at first, he did not approve.

"Now I am the leader of the Organization, Dominik Klein is my consigliere and Russell, who you know, is my underboss." He stopped to explain, "Bruno Costa was his uncle."

"Shocking eh? A double crossing FBI Agent helping lead part of the Mafia!" He chuckled to himself.

Russell was leaning on a table, with Klein besides him, he smiled at his boss, almost proudly.

"So that's it?" Adam asked, "you kidnapped us because you want Detourus back?"

"No." Russell said shortly standing up. "Do you really think that if we just wanted Detourus back, then we might have another more technologically advanced, method than kidnapping two mugs?"

"Well what _do_ you want?" Danny said bluntly.

"Klein's is right. You do know!" Marino walked closer to Danny clutching a revolver that was hidden in his inside jacket pocket.

Danny did nothing and the revolver didn't move. He just stared at Marino.

"Know what?" Adam Persisted

"Well," said Russ seriously, "That is the one thing the FBI and The Mafia genuinely have in common. Secrecy."

"Where is the evidence you bagged when you first visited the crime scene?" Marino asked impatiently.

When Marino turned for only a second, Danny glance back at Adam to tell him 'Do not tell him, its what's keeping us alive' to which Adam immediately nodded.

* * *

><p><em><strong>So, I'd love to hear what you have to say... I know my original story line has run straight into another one but I enjoy writing it all the same. <strong>_**_I wanted to get this up yesterday and failed.. Miserably. _**

****_**Let Me Know what you think, and I'm open to ideas (': so feel free to review**_

**_THANK YOU (:_**


	14. CODE

_**AN**_

_**Okay, so before we start with the next chapter I would like to say that this is dedicated to my best friend who has just had a baby boy! Congratulations!**_

CHAPTER 14

Flack was pretty uncertain of Adam and Danny's safety at this point, their short phone call earlier prompted him to think that, but it was deeper, darker that that. FBI Agent Miller wasn't sure what had been going on, she with the freaking FBI for crying out loud! If she didn't know, who the hell did!

Flack blasted towards his car to get back to the hospital; after all he'd told Sheldon he wouldn't be long. When he'd spoken to Sheldon on the phone he'd seemed relatively calm in the circumstances. Flack had no idea how Lindsey was doing, or Sid. Jo was not doing well to say the least, and in all honesty Mac was not much better. Mac was the walking dead whereas Jo was in a constant sleep.

Flack opened the door to his police issued car and ducked to get in.

Agent Miller jogged to the car.

"Here's my card if you need anything" She extended her hand to give her details to him.

Flack got up too quickly and banged his on the roof of the car.

_Damn _he cursed to himself inwardly. Flack felt a fool, how many times was he going to he embarrass himself today? Agent Miller smiled at the expression on Flack's face.

Flack fumbled around in his inner jacket pockets and found a contact card of his own in exchange for hers.

She looked down at it for a second. "Ah, Thank you Don."

For some reason this took Flack by surprise, he hadn't noticed before, her accent was not American although he guessed she'd lived here for a few years, she was English, not from London, but certainly from around the UK.

Flack was in a daze for a few seconds before his focus drifted back to the real world. He nodded once and before he knew it he was driving fiercely back to the hospital.

-0-

Mac wasn't about to present himself to the team looking like this, he hadn't showered in three days and hadn't changed his clothes in that time either. At the same time he didn't want to be away from Jo for more than 5 Minutes, so he didn't bother going home to get a change of clothes, he walked across the street opposite the hospital and found a small clothing shop and bought a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans.

After he'd showered he walked through the hallway where the remainder of the team had accumulated, his hair still wet. Sheldon greeted Mac with an embrace and a light thump on the back.

He looked around and saw James, Ellie and Tyler sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.

James got up and ran to his father, Mac at first wasn't sure what to do but he bent his knees and squatted down to James' height.

"How are you doing?" He asked in his kind velvet voice.

James was unsure; he'd put up with a lot already in his life for a ten year old, but went with his instinct and hugged Mac anyway without saying a word.

Mac returned the hug; and instinctively picked James up when he stood. This moment was the moment that Mac and James connected as father and son for the first time. It had happened ten years late, usually the connection would have been made a birth, but it was a strong as any.

Mac glanced around and saw Sid talking to his wife about a crossword puzzle in the New York Times that he had been reading. He saw Lindsey, asleep, stretched over three chairs but saw no sign of the others. He shifted James to his side, but didn't put him down, he wanted to hold onto his son, and in all this he's the only real family he had. Mac no longer saw Claire's face in James, James was purely his father's son with no trace that distinctively resembled Claire.

"Where are Adam, Danny and Flack?" Mac tried to start a casual conversation, but unbeknown to him, he'd just stumbled straight into another nightmare.

Sheldon fell silent and shifted on the spot a little. "Flack went to the Lab, he should be back any time now." With the words he looked longingly down towards the door where Flack could appear, so that he didn't have to be the bearer of the uncertainty of their friends well being, alone.

"And what of Danny and Adam?" Mac immediately prompted, he felt a sense of danger in the reluctance of Sheldon's information, which instinctively made him feel uneasy.

Flack agitatedly walked through the door, in front of where Sheldon and Mac were standing.

"Have you found them?" Sheldon asked hopefully and in haste, although he knew the answer.

As Flack approached, his facial expression told the two men everything they had to know.

Out of nowhere Mac's brain went into detective mode.

"What do we know?" He said sternly and assertively with authority, he regained the status of boss.

"They were last seen at around 7am this morning." Flack paused reluctant to share the information involving Russ. But the stern look upon Mac's face convinced him within seconds. "They were escorted into a black SUV by FBI Agent Russell Josephson and two other unknown Agents."

"The FBI?" Sheldon asked in confused murmur.

"The FBI have taken over the case, they want the un-processed evidence." Flack paused for a breath, "And don't worry I've told them they can't have it." Flack added.

"Ok, we need to get back to the lab." Sheldon said.

"No," Mac said shaking his head. "I'm not leaving the hospital. I'm not leaving Jo, and I personally think this is the safest place for everyone right now. The FBI are going to want that evidence, I don't want anymore hostages"

"Is that what you think Danny and Adam are?" Flack swallowed hard before the words came to him. The world in which they lived in was falling apart.

"What?" Lindsey had awoken from her slumber and heard a good element of the last part of their conversation. "Danny's a hostage?" she asked dumbfounded.

How did she manage to sleep without Danny? What would she do without him?

"You didn't tell her?" Mac asked, astounded but concealed it as best he could; he looked deeply into Lindsey's eyes, and read her mind like a book. He knew exactly how she felt. He knew how he'd feel if the team accidentally forgot to mention Jo had gone missing. Mac felt Lindsey's pain.

"Where is Lucy?" Mac asked, Lindsey moved to sit upright and Mac sat down next to her with James on his knee.

"She's with a sitter, 'till six, then I'm going to pick her up." Lindsey clasped her hands to her face as she let her emotions cascade to the surface. Tears fell to the floor.

James didn't like to see people upset, and he wasn't sure what to do. He looked at Mac and smiled childishly then tapped Lindsey on the shoulder.

Lindsey looked at him, as another tear rolled another river down the side of her cheek.

"Everything is going to be okay," he said, sounding wise beyond his years.

Mac smiled at his son proudly, somehow James knew what to say and when, James' comment had made her smile. Mac reassuringly rubbed Lindsey's shoulder.

"We'll find him Lindsey, that, I promise you." Mac said and James shifted off of his knee. Mac stood up and took hold of James' small hand in his.

"We're not going back to the lab," Mac reinforced. "Sheldon, I need a favor."

"Anything Boss." He instantly replied.

"You know doctors in this hospital?"

"Yeah"

"Go and talk to one, see if we can borrow a room or an office"

Sheldon swiftly moved to the hallway door.

"Flack,"

"Yeah."

"Call the precinct, get someone to run the evidence over here, The FBI aren't going to look in a hospital for the evidence, it'll by us some time, you'll have to do it off the books."

"Sure thing boss."

Flack also walked out.

Sid and his wife came to comfort Lindsey, although they also weren't informed about the intensity of the situation.

"What am I going to do?" Lindsey asked Mac as more tears fell.

Mac placed his hand on her shoulder once again. "Stay strong." He replied with the only honest answer he knew.

-0-

Russell, Marino and Klein had left Danny and Adam alone for a while, but they were only in the next room. Adam got up and looked around the window for any traps or any possibilities of escape.

"Adam." Danny said almost bluntly, although didn't mean to sound harsh.

Adam pivoted to face Danny, Danny was pointing at a camera in the corner of the room.

"Man." Adam slumped onto the sofa again. "How'd I miss that?"

"Don't worry Adam, we'll get out of here."

Without any form of warning, Mario opened the door, gun in hand and fired a shot into a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It crashed violently to the floor.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." He spat.

Russ was to his left and Klein to his right, following closely behind.

Mario began again, "Now, unfortunately for you, nobody here really likes you. So whether or not you have information concerning us is… Almost irrelevant. I have some young Mafia mobsters who need initiation tests. Your murders seem like a good one to get them into our clan, don't you think boys?" He paused to examine their expressions and turned to Russ and Klein.

Adam's face was of shock, but Danny's remained thoughtful,

"Almost? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Danny argued back. He was cranky after the last 3 days he'd had, he needed a shower and he hadn't eaten in over 24 hours and that was only a granola bar.

He stood up to Marino. "Talk to me straight, no head games!" he shouted in his face. Klein immediately saw Danny as a threat and pulled his gun on him, although Danny ignored him. This was what he was worried about earlier; he had become cocky and arrogant, he hoped that this hadn't been a mistake, but he had a thrust of dread slam into the pit of his stomach.

Marino put his hand out to stop Klein. "Are you not scared of the Mafia?" Marino asked in a harsh warning tone.

"I believe that whatever you want from us is more important to you than anything else right now. For some reason you _need _Adam and I, you're not going to shoot us" he reconsidered the next part of his answer, "if you do it won't be until we give you exactly what you want." Danny was furious; he literally felt that he could breath fire. Not just for the circumstances he was put in, or for the circumstances around Jo but Marino's involvement with the Tanglewood gang really tipped him over the edge.

Marino decided to play along for a second, for his own entertainment.

"Yeah, you are right. I'm not going to shoot you."

A moment paused and then Danny realized his courage was going to end in misery, he closed his eyes and thought of his beautiful wife and daughter. Marino turned and gave a signal to Klein and Russ.

He got out his gun from inside his black suit jacket and pistol-whipped Danny, to which Danny fell to the floor. Klein and Russ picked Danny up by his arms; he was still hanging onto consciousness by the last thread.

"I can make your life difficult. Learn to be afraid of the Mafia, kid!"

Marino put the gun back in its holder, brought back his fist and put all his weight into a solid punch to Danny's jaw. Danny would have collapsed, but for the fact that Russ and Klein were holding him up. Blood gushed from Danny's mouth. Marino signaled for his two sidekicks to drop Danny.

"Boss?"

"Russ?"

"May I?"

"Sure" and gestured for them to do whatever they wanted, "just keep them alive." With that Marino walked out.

Russ grinned like a fool at Klein and dragged his hand through his hair in joy.

"Adam." Klein grinned. Unwillingly Adam cursed Danny for his bravery, they'd done this before.

Danny lay unconscious on the floor, and Russ and Klein lost interest in him and approached Adam.

Adam closed his eyes to block out the pain.

-0-

Mac was sat next to Sheldon with his head in his hands. The whole world was falling apart as far as he was concerned. As things unraveled, the less they really knew. He cared for Adam and Danny, but his head wasn't in the right place to work through the situation methodically. He longed for Jo to be safe and well, he wanted to hear her laugh, he wanted to see her smile, he wanted to hold her in his arms.

"How's Jo doing?" Sheldon finally asked. They'd been sat side by side for what felt like hours.

Mac swallowed hard and sat up to face Sheldon. Mac's eyes pricked with tears as his mind was forced to spasm under the memories of her rescue and the journey to her current state. His heart filled with anguish, aching, desiring, for Jo to come out of her restless sleep.

"You saw Russell?" Mac asked thoughtfully constructing his answer.

"Yeah," Sheldon said, looking blankly at the floor, "He looked pretty pissed."

"Jo, he and I had a little confrontation"

Sheldon's face dropped, he knew the outcome, which most likely, none of the outcomes offered much comfort to Sheldon's mind.

Mac placed his head in his hands once again as his insides cried for Jo, a tear trickled to the floor.

"She went into cardiac arrest." Mac said, "She's in a coma." To which Mac broke down, shedding tears of pain in the limbo of Jo's life.

Sheldon's heart also began to throb, accompanying Mac's heart in pain.

"Jeeze" he threw himself back gently to the back of the chair and looked up to the ceiling.

-0-

James and Ellie had gone in search of a coloring in book from the hospital shop, there wasn't much else to do other than sit around, wait and worry. After looking for a good 20 minutes they found a shop on the first floor near the entrance.

Ellie had been given $10 from Mac as 'Pocket money' and he'd given the same to James, but for Ellie to look after it while they walked around.

James found the magazines while Ellie looked for the colouring in pens; she also picked up something's for herself.

James picked a handful of magazines and a colouring in book, he and Ellie took them to the counter.

"Are you sure your daddy wants you to spend nearly $10 on magazines?" The cashier asked James but even for a ten year old it seemed patronizing.

"He won't mind" Ellie butted in and smiled at James. "He gave us money to do what we like." She said shortly, usually she didn't have a short temper but in the circumstances she felt it was acceptable.

Ellie put her basket up to the counter; her items were slightly more useful, a hair brush, a pack of wet wipes, two tooth brushes and a tube of tooth paste.

"Oh, I see." The cashier said realizing that they weren't spending all their money on junk. She seemed a little cakey to Ellie.

"Does your dad know your looking after your little brother?" she asked, she was thinking that it should be the fathers job to look after the kids.

_Well durrrh!_

"Yeah, dad knows." She collected her change and her bags and walked off with James.

"Is my dad your dad to?" James asked.

"No," Ellie said sadly, "I wish he was though."

"We can share him?" James offered.

"You can share my mum when she gets better" Ellie answered. Despite everything, the world seemed brighter, a better place. The two of them joked the whole way back to Mac.

-0-

In the hospital there was a spare presentation room free, where doctors looked at X-Rays and MRI scans under a certain white light. It was a relatively large room with a table in the centre. It was also only down the hallway from where Jo was, so in this situation it was the ideal place.

Flack placed a couple of brown boxes on the table.

"This is what Danny and Adam collected." He stated, turned around and walked out again.

Inside the boxes there wasn't much, clothes from Claire, Personal possessions from both Claire and Detourus.

"What about your clothes Mac? You might have picked something up." Sheldon said, trying to think outside the box, technically he was. Mac's clothes were not in the box, they were in a carrier bag on a chair that had been brought in by Mac.

"I'll take the photographs," Sheldon said.

"I'll take the blood," Lindsey said, "Maybe it will tell us why the FBI are involved, Jo is with the NYPD now, they have no reason to be there."

"I've got my clothes."

Flack returned, "I figured you guys will need these," he was carrying a couple of laptop cases, a microscope, a fingerprint scanner and an ipad.

"Thanks," Mac smiled.

"Do you know anyone on this case in the FBI?" Lindsey asked Mac.

"No, sorry Lindsey, I'm afraid I don't"

"I do." Flack offered, thinking of agent miller.

"Can you trust her?" Mac instantly asked.

"Yeah." Flack frowned and nodded, although he only knew her for a few minutes. She had a sincere characteristic about her in which he trusted.

"Bring him here." Mac said.

"Her" Flack corrected him, to which Mac looked slightly surprised but the look on Flack's face gave him away instantly.

Mac shook his head and rolled his eyes. "If you think _she _can help, and you trust her, get her here."

Flack pulled out his phone from his pocket, and also found her card and dialed the number.

-0-

Agent Miller was next to a communication van, on Russell's laptop. Hers had died a tragic death from lack of battery charge. The system was on a network and so she could log on using her FBI user name.

When she flipped it open there was a sticky note inside, it read:

CWIJWR EWN XAMJ WUXSJZ WHSTE

At first she thought it could be a password for something, FBI Agents were encouraged to encrypt their passwords to make it virtually impossible to hack. But the longer she studied it, the more she doubted it. It didn't seem to mean anything, she tried to decrypt it but the code was not one she'd come across before.

In the laptop case there was a notepad, there were impressions from the page on top. She has a pencil in her brief case and so she started her own little investigation. Morally, she knew it was wrong, but the situation wasn't standard procedure, and she was an FBI Agent, her job was to find out the truth, whatever it may be.

Her mind was racing with the information she'd just exploited. She hadn't left the crime scene all day; perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her. She'd have to fly to Washington DC to the headquarters to higher authorities however if she told the bureau about this, they wouldn't believe her, it seemed so far fetched. She feared deeply for the two CSI's safety, what they were involved in was just wrong.

Russ was careless to leave this here, for an FBI Agent it almost seemed intentional, but again the word almost shoved more doubt into Agent Millers soul. This hadn't been intentional Agent Russell Josephson was dirty. She looked down at the negative print of the note. It was sketches of a map, an escape route, Detourus' escape route. Russell was going to help kidnap Jo. There were also some handwritten notes at the bottom; the only thing she could read was White, which could have meant anything.

His plans were interrupted when Mac came to the rescue and so he kidnapped two other CSI's

Miller's phone rang; she dug it out of her pocket she'd saved Flacks number into her phone, she was relived to see his name come up on the screen. She quickly answered it.

"Hey Don," she listened for a few seconds. "Sure I'll be right over."

-0-

Adam had pretended to be unconscious for some time now, it was okay, they bought his act but they were still watching him. He'd been beaten pretty badly, he could taste blood in his mouth and his left arm throbbed enormously. From his line of sight on the floor he could just make out Danny, who was just returning to consciousness. He just prayed that the mobsters would leave them alone for a while so that he and Danny could devise a plan to get the hell out of there.

An old phone rang and Russell went to answer it, leaving just Klein there.

_C'mon Adam, C'mon! _Adam said to himself over and over.

Adam got up quickly and almost as fast a gun was pulled.

"Wow." Adam said, putting his hands in a defensive position, palms out.

"I'm just going to check on my friend"

Klein nodded, although he had no idea why.

Adam gulped, bit his lip and decided to go with his gut.

"How'd a German get in the Mafia?"

"Marino told you." Klein said shortly.

"But the Mafia," Adam paused. "Are supposed to have an Italian background."

"I was brought up around Italian's." The German snapped. Adam had hit a nerve.

Klein blundered toward Adam in a rage. Adam never thought he would think it, but he was glad to see Marino standing at the door.

"Klein," Marino said with authority.

Klein stopped dead in his tracks.

"Don't retaliate, I have something more…" He paused to glare at Adam, "Fun… for them to endure later. I think it will be more… entertaining, if they both are conscious."

Klein smiled happily. Adam knew, whatever it was, it wasn't good.

-0-

Within minutes Miller was at the hospital. If Flack hadn't of called, she'd have called him.

She had smuggled Russell's laptop out of the crime scene, it seemed that FBI Agents could get away with murder. She also brought the code and map with her. It was rather strange meeting in a hospital about such a serious case but she couldn't argue and so went along with the location.

When she arrived she was introduced to a sad lady, one of the relatives from the two that were kidnapped, her name was Lindsey, she put on a brave face for the world to see but inside she was dying.

She was introduced to a relatively small man he was smaller than Flack. He seemed sad too, his eyes were glazed with pain. He'd introduced himself as Detective Taylor, which told her that he didn't trust the FBI in this investigation. He was the Boss of the NYPD crime lab, although he had a personal involvement within the case, he also put up a barricade to stop emotions from running free.

Inside the presentation room, the remainder of the team were sorting through what little evidence they really had. The blood had come up a blank and Lindsey hand moved on to a Cell phone that was collected amongst Detourus's possessions. He had made a few calls during Jo's kidnapping, but every trace of a lead seemed to vanish as the computer flashed the number to be to a disposable phone.

"Here," Miller offered, she extended her arm so that Lindsey should give the evidence to her. Lindsey was reluctant at first, but then she thought of Danny and so gave in to her stubbornness.

Miller unlocked the phone and studied the number. She then tapped in some of her FBI confidentials into the laptop that Lindsey had been using. She typed the number in and then brought up the information on the other phones the disposable phone had rung. It was a landline form Italy. As they read the information on the screen, they both looked at each other slightly confused.

-0-

Two guards stood outside of the door of the living room of the safe house. Marino, Klein and Russ were sat in the kitchen.

"How close have the CSI got?" Klein asked Russ.

"They have no idea," Russ said proudly, trying to impress his boss.

"Goo-ooo-ood, that is good." Marino said satisfied.

"Do you think they have what we want?" Klein asked

"Of course they do." Russ snapped. "The FBI have been at the scene for over 6 hours now and they haven't found it."

"How do you know? They could be double crossing you."

"KLEIN! You decide to bring this up NOW?" Russell retaliated to the insult. "You know full well that the people that have full access to the case know everything, if they find the book, then they'll hand it straight over to me."

"Now, now, gentlemen" Marino said in a patronizing tone.

The Boss's phone buzzed, a text.

"Come on boy's, lets all make up over some entertainment, Klein I know you'll like this."

They were stood at the door while the two CSI's were slumped leaning the wall, they didn't seem to be any point in getting up. The both of them we exhausted, hurt and turbulent.

"Time for some fun" Klein chuckled as he rubbed his hands together indulging in the expressions produced by both Danny and Adam.

Two other men, dressed in black came in, both were carrying AK47s.

Adam shot Danny a mortified look.

The men pointed their guns into Danny and Adam's throats and ordered them to their feet.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AUTHOR NOTE<strong>_

_**HEY TO THOSE WHO HAVE STUCK WITH ME & THIS STORY THIS LONG... **_

_**I HOPE YOU LIKE THE NEW CHAPTER.**_

_**NOT SURE IF I SHOULD WRITE A LONG, PROPER ENDING OR IF I SHOULD ABANDON IT :/ **_

_**I HAVE AN IDEA FOR A NEW STORY... I SERIOUSLY DONT KNOW WHAT TO DOOOO!**_

_**OKAY SO YOU KNOW THE DRILL PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE READ AND REVIEW 3**_

_**THANK YOU FOR READING (:**_


	15. Forgotten

_**AN/**_  
><em><strong>THAK YOU FOR STICKING WITH ME THIS LONG (: I REALISE I AM PRACTICALLY ONLY TALKING TO NEXIS… I HAVE DECIDED TO CONTIUNE WITH THE STORY BUT I WARN YOU THAT I ONLY INTEND TO WRITE ABOUT ANOTHER 3 CHAPTERS. I AM DOING THIS BECAUSE I FIND IT REALLY IRRITATING WHEN I READ A FANFIC AND THE AUTHOR HASN'T BOTHERED TO FINISH IT, I DON'T WANT TO BE A HYPOCRYT SO I WILL FINISH.<strong>_

_**I HAVE A PLAN TO WRITE A SECOND STORY SOON, AFTER THAT I THINK THAT I WILL THEN ATTEMPT TO RE-WRITE MY INITIAL IDEA FOR THIS STORY TO IMPROVE.**_

_**SORRY IF THESE CHAPTERS TURN OUT A LITTLE SHORT.**_

Chapter 15 - Forgotten

"Klein, I thought you might like this" Marino looked out into a field that was behind the house, there was a barn in the distance.  
>The bodyguards pushed the guns into the backs of Danny and Adam as they advanced into the farmland area, this is when it would have been a good idea to escape, run free from the torture, if not for the pain that shot through their veins, they would have. Now, they didn't have the energy.<p>

The closer to the barn they got, the more apprehensions Danny became. The building was old, but had new doors and looked like it had recently been renovated.

"Sorry" Klein said with a menacing emphasis, moving up to Danny's face. "Your Friend Mac ruined our plans. You can blame him for what you are about to endure." He didn't seem the least bit sorry.  
>"We had to improvise." He grinned.<p>

"What does Jo have to do with _your_ plans?" Adam asked innocently. Klein's face dropped, his face turned to rage. He was having fun and had let his guard down. He'd given away too much.  
>"You were involved with Jo's abduction?" Adam asked bringing his hand to his head as it began to throb.<p>

Klein looked across towards his boss briefly, whose face was of thunder, his blood was boiling and looked like bomb ready to explode, steam was emanating from his ears.

Klein dropped his head in shame, he'd never made a cock up as big as this before, especially in front of his boss.  
>"Detourus wasn't working for you, the crime was too sloppy, it was untidy, and you didn't have motive to take Jo."<p>

Marino had had enough of the stupid questions, he glared at Klein for a few short moments and as they walked, he started to explain. "Detourus's grandfather was half Italian, he was a member of a clan that lived in the next village to me back home. He did my family a kindness, when a mutual enemy was captured, he let our clan dispose of him. Lucas Detourus is merely an associate of the Mafia, but when a Marino gives his word, he keeps it. Detourus found himself in a bit of bother and needed an escape back to Italy, My father promised to look out for him, I must also."

They came closer towards the door. "Story time's over" Marino said with bitterness in his voice, he bitter with Klein.

They opened the huge barn doors and walked inside, the renovations had recently been completed, and the place still had the heavy smelt of paint. There were glass rooms on each side of a narrow corridor; in each room there was a bed, the far side of the room was painted white and there was what looked like a long vent positioned on the lower half of the wall. At the end of the corridor there was some stairs that lead to a singular upstairs room.

Danny's heart skipped a beat, he'd never seen a set up like this before, but he knew for sure what it was. He swallowed hard to take in. These were torture chambers.

Adam also had never been to a place like this, although in an odd sense it reminded him of a cross between the lab and a prison.

They were separated and shoved into different cells but they could still see each other through the glass.

"Who would like to go first?" Marino asked, twisting his lip up into a snarl.

Danny and Adam shot horrified looks at each other. Marino dug deep in his pockets to find a dime. "Heads I win, Tails you loose." He looked down and smiled at his joke.

Klein had pissed Marino off, this would have been his call but Marino deliberately under minded him to make the German's ego shrink.

"Russ?"

"Heads Danny, Tails Adam?" Russ asked, although he was sure of his answer

"Very well"

He released his hand to reveal his intended victim.

"Heads." He stated.

Russ walked over to a panel on the wall where a computer monitor was placed.

Klein looked down; he felt that because this was something purely to entertain him, he should be the one to initiate the torture. Russ Pressed a few buttons and suddenly the quite humming of a generator filled the silence. For a few seconds nothing happened, Danny felt a small breeze in the room but otherwise felt fine.

"What are you doing?" he demanded furiously. "Hmm" Marino replied. There was no way he was going to ruin his own entertainment by spoiling the surprise. The room seemed to get slightly stuffy, and he noticed a slight rise in the temperature. -0- Mac was interrupted, much to his annoyance, however seemed fine about the disturbance of his thought track when he realised that it was Doctor Jones.

"Do you mind?" The Doctor asked as he stood in the doorway.

"No." Mac said shaking his head, without any emotion. He took off his gloved and walked out into the eerily quite hospital corridor. "There has been a development." The Doctor said, he was careful with the way in which he worded his sentence, which instantly increased Mac's suspicion."A Development?" He repeated.

The Doctor faintly smiled. "An improvement." He reassured himself more than he reassured Mac. Mac's head snapped up and a smile spread across his face. However the was a pause, a pause that lasted a second too long. The smile vanished and was replaced with a solemn look of despair and concern. "Her condition has improved, she should be out of the coma within the next 24 hours." This was good news, what was the problem? "You're stalling" Mac pointed out bluntly, not meaning to sound impatient but he wanted to know the truth, straight out in black and white. "Because Jo's brain was starved of oxygen when she went into cardiac arrest, the test results show that Jo might have amnesia when she wakes, we wont know for sure until we conduct more test, how severe and how permanent it could be." The news hit Mac like a bullet. His stomach twisted into thousands of tiny tight knots. What would she remember? Would she even remember him? Would she still feel the same way about him as he did foe her? Would she remember Ellie? Would She remember New York? Mac usually prepared for the worst however the word 'Might' lingered in his mind long after the doctor had spoken… she might _not_… and he clung to this hope. Mac disappeared back into the room in which he had been conducting the tests briefly and then reappeared in a matter of seconds. "I want to be with her when she wakes." He told the doctor and with a quick pace he walked down the corridor to Jo's room leaving the doctor stood outside of the makeshift lab.

-0-

Lindsey was panicking, she had Lucy there with her now and wanted to remain strong, but inside she was falling apart, pealing at the seams. Holding tightly to Lucy, endless amounts of possibilities and ideas assaulted her mind, with tears pricking at her eyes. It had been Flacks job to inform Adam's mom of his disappearance, she was now on her way to the hospital to wait in agony with Lindsey. Lindsey let go of Lucy as she squirmed from her mothers grasp in order to find a comfortable position to sit in. Ellie and James were sat colouring in and drawing, propped up against the wall. They were exhausted but seemed to have lost the ability to sleep and so had become like Zombies, waiting for this nightmare to be over. "She looks sad" James said quietly so as not alert Lucy that he was talking about her. Ellie looked up to see whom he was talking about. "Danny is her Dad." Ellie explained as she stood up and walked over to Lindsey and Lucy. "Hey," Ellie said kindly, bending down to Lucy's height. Lucy looked slightly embarrassed and shyly looked up at Ellie. Ellie extended her hand for Lucy to take. "What do you say to some colouring in?" Lindsey smiled at the interaction. Although she wanted to hold on to Lucy forever, in fear of her family never being the same again, she gave a slight nod of approval to Ellie as Lucy took hold of Ellie's hand. -0- At this point Mac was in Jo's room; every now and then a nurse had come in to fidget around with certain tubes or to take blood. Mac wasn't going to let his personal life get in the way of finding Danny and Adam, although at this point everything that had happened during this nightmare had been personal. His hand slipped into his pocket where he had placed the note that Russ had left in his lap top case and took it out. This had to mean something. He called the crime lab, one of the techs picked up. Mac told them to run the code through some decrypting software. But there had been no luck. With a slight sigh, he went into his pocket again and retrieved a pencil and a small notebook. He could feel that this was the key to unlocking the location. CWIJWR EWN XAMJ WUXSJZ WHSTE While rewriting the sequence, he racked through his memory, remembering back to the days he spent in college when a code question had been on his final exam. The letters were space out in irregular lengths; this prompted him to think that the code revealed a sentence. On his not pad he wrote. A=Z, B=Y, C=X, D=W, E=V, F=U, G=T, H=S, I=R, J=Q, K=P, L=O, M=N, N=M, O=L, P=K, Q=J, R=I, S=H, T=G, U=F, V=E, W=D, X=C, Y=B, Z=A With the he deduced XDRQDI VDM CZOQ DFCHQA DSHGV to be the answer; it didn't appear to have any significance. For some unknown reason, Mac disregarded this conclusion. It looked like a complicated code, at least 3 layers of encryption, possibly even 4. On the table there was a cup coaster in a circular shape. Across the room there was a CD. Mac picked both up and took a pen from the table next to Jo and wrote the alphabet around edges of both circular objects clockwise, he then placed the smaller on inside the larger and aligned the letters twisted the smaller coaster once in an anti clockwise position this was called the Caesar Cipher (a = a + _n_) N= a number between 1- 25 because there are 26 letters in the English alphabet and Mac was assuming it was written in English if Russ wrote it. [In this case a=a+25] anticlockwise = -1. (25=26+-1) , +-1 cancels to -1. The A=Z, B=A, C=B…. and wrote down what could be another layer.

CWIJWR EWN XAMJ WUXSJZ WHSTE = BVHIVQ DVM WZLI VTWRIY VGRSD

In all honesty Mac still thought that it didn't look like much. He wasn't sure whether he had just solved a part of the puzzle or encrypted it more.

Jo moved slightly, to which his head snapped up. His mind drifted away from the decryption and dread assaulted his mind. Without really thinking, he grabbed hold of Jo's hand in his, kissing her while he still could, praying that he would not be forgotten.

Mac looked down at his note pad with his scribbled notes, trying once again to make sense of things. There was no proof that he was on the right track. He could easily try another algorithm. However, with that in mind, he'd never get the answer if there were more than one layer of encryption, all 25 possibilities of the Caesar cipher would not make any sense, he had to go deeper. Russ wasn't stupid and he'd used his FBI training, unfortunately, he'd used it well. How could the FBI have trained him and missed what he is capable of?

Flack came to the door with two coffees, stacked one on top of the other and knocked on the glass window.

Mac immediately looked up, to his relief it was a friend, he then glanced back at Jo, she wasn't awake, it wasn't his place to deny visitors that cared for her. He nodded his head in approval, signaling that Flack could come in.

Flack smiled, believing that his bribe with coffee had worked. He opened the door and walked into the room, Flack knew that Mac cared far more deeply and passionately than he let the world see. Pain was lingering in the air, along with quiet muffled beeps of the medical equipment while Flack's mind searched for something sensible to say in the deathly silence. He just wanted to be there for his two friends, which was proving difficult.

"What have you got there?" Flack finally asked. Looking down at Mac's scribbles.

" It's a code found in Russ's laptop case." Mac said quietly and took one of the cardboard cups of coffee from flack and cautiously took a drink. Realizing the vending machine was a good walk away down the corridor, the coffee had, had time to cool down and was at now drinkable temperature.

Mac looked down at the scribbles, this was hopeless. He put his hand to his head and rubbed his temple. Don took the paper and scribbled some letters of his own. "So you have to put this answer to the one you just solved?" Don asked, genially trying to help.

"I don't know." Mac said frustrated and shoved the CD and the cup coaster aside on another table.

Don put his cup down, and sat down himself.

Mac had written 'BVHIVQ DVM WZLI VTWRIY VGRSD' at the top of one page and a reverse alphabet sequence on another.

'A=Z, B=Y, C=X, D=W, E=V, F=U, G=T, H=S, I=R, J=Q, K=P, L=O, M=N, N=M, O=L, P=K, Q=J, R=I, S=H, T=G, U=F, V=E, W=D, X=C, Y=B, Z=A'

Don assumed that if he followed the reverse alphabet for the new code, he could help some how, although there was nothing to prompt him for this conclusion. Mac had written it therefore it must be right.

_YESREJ WEN DAOR EGDIRB ETIHW._

'Yes-arh-ejge when DahOr Eg-d-eye-arhbu Eth-eye-haych-wu' Don said out loud, trying to read the code outcome phonically, as he finished he screwed up if face, feeling failure.

The Notepad fell to the floor, where it landed upside down in front of Mac.

-0-

Adam was watching with intent. Danny looked a little flustered, but he hadn't passed out. What were they doing to his friend? Is this what they had in store for him?

"Danny!" Adam yelled but it was only in vein, the glass was thick and sound proof.

Marino pressed an intercom button and spoke into a microphone on the wall.

"How do you feel?" He said with a menacing tone in his voice.

"Fine." Danny said as he felt the air become thin.

"Is that so?" Marino asked disappointed slightly. He nodded at Russ, who pulled a leaver making the generators work harder. What ever they were doing, the intensity was increasing.

Danny sunk to the floor as he realized what was happening to him. He closed his eyes, remembering Lindsey, the love of his life and their beautiful daughter. It was now that it became clear; he might not ever make it out of there. He knew the team would be working hard to get them out of there, but they seemed a million miles away, they were focusing on Jo as well and Mac's head was bound to be all over the place, with him looking after Jo, Ellie, James and Possibly even Tyler. Danny put his hand to his damp head where sweat had accumulated. Slowly he was being starved of oxygen.

Adam took a minute or two to catch on as Klein's eyes lit up with glee, this was one of the most dangerous types of criminals, someone who was so evil that they didn't have any ramose for the torture that they were inflicting.

Adam stumbled back from the glass and fell onto the bed in dismay. Danny was a good friend, they'd know each other for years, Adam was powerless to do anything about his friends suffering and it was killing him.

-0-

The Darkness had consumed her for long enough now. Jo moved her hand slightly, testing her strength before opening her eyes. As her eyes flickered open she'd expected to see the people she loved and people she cared for. However to her surprise there were two strangers sat by her beside. At first she assumed that these people were doctors, as she couldn't see what other reason they'd be there.

"Hey Jo." The slightly shorted man said kindly flashing his honest eyes at her "How are you feeling?"

To his dismay, she shot a look of confusion his way.

"Are you from the bureau?" Jo asked as her mind started to fill in some of the blanks.

The taller man raised an eyebrow, "Jo you don't recognize us?" He asked in disbelief.

"Should I?"

The first man bit his lip in pain. For some reason, now they came to mention it, the two of them did seem sort of familiar.

"Where's Russ?" Jo asked.

"Russ?" The dark haired tall man gritted his teeth as he spoke.

"Yes, my husband." Jo replied, slightly annoyed.

"Don?" The shorter man addressed the taller man.

"HmmHum" Flack mumbled.

"Will you give us a minute, Bring Ellie up in half an hour and talk to Dr. Jones."

Don looked from, Jo to the other man and back a few times before he left.

Mac bit his lip slightly again,

"Jo, do you know where you are, how you got here, what year it is?"

"Yes." Jo said shortly. "I didn't get your name."

"My name is…" Mac paused trying to untangle his messy thoughts along with the knots in his stomach.

"I am Detective Mac Taylor from the New York Crime Lab"

"New York?" She paused "Why are you in Virginia?"

"Jo, you live and work in New York City, you have for about 2 years now."

"I'd like to see some identification" She told him, unsatisfied.

Mac showed her his badge and credentials.

"I want to see a Doctor." She sat up further, to which Mac tried to assist her, but she almost growled at him and so he stumbled backwards.

"I'll go and find him." Mac offered, to which she nodded.

Before he left he picked up the notes that were on the floor, with the intent to give to Sheldon. Everyone had come up with blanks with the evidence except Mac, who hadn't finished processing it.

"She's awake" Mac called when he saw Sheldon.

"That was quick." He concluded, "Is she ok?"

"Physically? That's just what I'm going to find out."

"Mentally?" Sheldon asked as he sensed Mac withholding information.

"We'll see." Mac said and handed him the notes. "Don and I had a go at it. I don't know if the decryption is right." Mac shrugged and walked off to find Doctor Jones.

As Mac walked in the other direction, Sheldon couldn't help it but check in on his friend. Mac was in a bad way, as he was now, he wouldn't let many people near her.

"Hey, How you doing?" Sheldon asked as he poked his head through the door.

"And who are you?" Jo asked more irritated than anything that these people she was surrounded by cared for her, and she didn't seem to have a clue who they were.

"Sheldon." He said blankly, wondering whether it was just her sense of humor or if this was serious.

"Sheldon," Jo said. "Are you a doctor?" he said.

"Oh." Jo was now at a serious point of confusion.

"I'm not here as a Doctor, I don't work at a hospital. Not anymore. I'm here as your friend Jo."

In a frustrated sigh she raised her voice, not to a shout but loud enough for people outside to hear. "I don't know you."

"Jo it's me. Sheldon." Sheldon tried again.

The thing that really hurt her was how sincere he appeared.

"I'm sorry," She said. "Do you know where Mac Taylor is?"

"You remember Mac?" Sheldon released a large sigh.

"No, he was the Detective just in here, he went to get a doctor." Suddenly it dawned on her. "Why was there a detective in here?"

Sheldon glanced out of the door and noticed Mac approaching in deep conversation with the Doctor,

"Sorry Jo, I got to go, I'll try and be up in a bit." And just as swiftly as he came he left.

The Detective and the Doctor walked in.

"Hello Jo, I'm Doctor Jones."

"Hey." She smiled.

Inwardly her smile lit up Mac's heart, he just wished it had been him that had made her smile.

"Jo, this is the man that brought you to the hospital 4 days ago. You've been through a lot and I know this must be hard for you."

The Doctor Began to explain the conditions of which had put her in a coma.

-0-

"DON!"

"Yeah?" Don replied.

"I Have the Answer!" Sheldon Jumped up and down like a child at Christmas.

Flack jumped out of his seat and walked over to Sheldon.

"You and Mac cracked it really." Read it in reverse.

_YESREJ WEN DAOR EGDIRB ETIHW. = WHITE BRIDGE ROAD NEW JERSY._

"WHITE BRIDGE ROAD NEW JERSY." Sheldon said "We gotta get out there!"

Immediately Flack was on the phone ordering his team to go there.

"I'll get Mac." Sheldon said.

"I.. Erhh.. Don't know if that would be a good idea.." Flack protested.

"I think it'd be worst if we left him out of it." Sheldon countered

Flack Nodded, "Be quick meet you in the car park in 5"

Sheldon ran as fast as his legs would carry him, as he went thinking that he ought to get back to regularly attending a gym.

"Mac!" He said quiet flustered. I think You solved were Danny and Adam are, they're with Russ"

"Where's Russ?" Jo asked trying to get out of bed but the doctor stopped her.

Mac was about to Kiss Jo goodbye to leave and follow up on the new lead, but stopped himself just in time and looked deep into her eyes, praying that soon, she would remember.

At the same time that Mac did this Jo had the compulsion to kiss him, as if it was a natural reflex, but she too stopped herself.

Instead Mac squeezed her hand and nodded at her. All she needs is time, Mac told himself, space and Time.


	16. Bulletproof

Chapter 16 - Bulletproof

Mac, Sheldon and Flack were now in a non-marked police issue car that Flack had been assigned to.

"So you're coming then?" Flack asked.

Mac didn't feel the need to answer so he just glared in Flack's direction. Flack immediately put his foot on the accelerator and sped out of the hospital car park. Mac didn't want it to be apparent to his co-workers that his personal life was in fact affecting the way in which he ran the lab.

At this time the other police officers were ahead of them, Don had spoken to the Jersey PD who were already investigating the area.

It had been nearly 3 days since Danny and Adam had been taken. In a kidnapping or abduction sense, all 3 of them knew the odds but as and when these thoughts assaulted their minds, the pain made in unbearable to think of anything else, anything positive.

Mac's life had been one hell of a rollercoaster this week. Everything that he was sure of, he wasn't anymore. Nothing seemed to make sense. He shook his head as though to disregard the situation he found himself in. But the memories wouldn't shift. The memories he had of Claire were now tainted in evil blood. The feelings that Jo and he had developed were now in jeopardy. He had a son.

Mac took a deep breath, although he hadn't intended for anyone to notice, Flack did. He glanced in the centre mirror and saw the Sheldon had also.

"Are you ok, Mac" Flack asked, genuinely worried for his friend and co-worker.

To Mac's relief, without any prior warning, Flack's phone rang. It was the Jersey PD.

"Yes." Flack answered the phone. Although he knew it was important, he was slightly irritated that that was the moment that the Jersey PD decided to interrupt him.

"Okay…

We are on our way, that's two of our own in there…

Bout 20 minutes away…

In-case you haven't already noticed, we are hurrying."

Flack sharply turned a corner, missing a lamppost by millimetres.

-0-

Nobody from the team had been to the lab in good day or two, and now the place was deserted. Two, large square men dressed in black suits flashed their FBI badges to the receptionists hiding their AK47's under their coats. These were people like Russ, in on the whole mess, sent by their superior to ransack the CSI evidence bank looking for incriminating evidence, of which they weren't even sure what exactly they were looking for.

It was easy enough for them to get inside. The evidence was in the lab, not in an evidence volt, all they had to do was flash their badges on the CSI floor and they were given access to all areas. However when they reached the 34th floor, it was deserted except for a few techs.

Being from the FBI the two men knew how the CSI's filing system was organised; the evidence they were looking for was gone. No personal effects, No clothing, No books.

"Are you sure that they would have brought it here?" One of them asked in a gruff tone.

"Agent Josephson said it would be." The other replied.

"Where are they now?"

"Lets try their home addresses."

The other stood up straight and searched on a CSI computer for Detective Taylor's address.

-0-

Sid had decided to take it upon himself to visit Jo, although he knew what she was faced with, he equally knew that it would be hard for her not to recognise anyone too. He took Ellie with him, hoping that the sight of her own daughter might jog her memory slightly.

Sid knocked on the glass door, peering in to see her. It was strange how they'd become so close. He felt he connected more with Jo than any other member of the team and they'd know each other the shortest amount of time.

Jo struggled to sit up, but once she did, she nodded Sid who opened the door.

"Hey" he said kindly. "How are you doing?"

Again, like the other two, this man did seem familiar, and it was so frustrating that she couldn't but a name to face.

"Hi" Jo said with her guard up straight away.

"I've brought someone to see you, I hope you don't mind" Sid said cautiously, unsure of her reaction. Its not like she recognised anyone right now, what would one more make?

"Who?" Jo asked, hoping that it would be someone that she would recognize.

"Ellie." Sid said, crossing his figures behind his back for good luck.

"Ellie?" Jo said in a soft voice, however there was still confusion.

"Your daughter." Sid prompted, although he hoped that he hadn't had to.

'I don't have a daughter,' Jo was about to say, but she remembered the Doctor's advise in situations like this. So she stayed quite and nodded once.

Ellie appeared in the doorway.

"MOM!" she smiled happily, running up to Jo's bedside, hugging her tightly as tears came to her eyes.

To Jo's surprise, her reaction was to hug the teenage girl, she couldn't help thinking that this situation could have easily been Tyler.

"Tyler, Where's Tyler?" Jo said shaking her head remembering.

"He's downstairs, looking after Mac's son James" Sid said, he's been up here a few times but you were sleeping.

Jo held a poker face as she stroked Ellie's hair.

"I wasn't in a coma for very long was I? She asked, slightly concerned that she might have lost years. Even though the doctor earlier had suggested that she hadn't.

No, just under 24 hours. Sid reassured her. Smiling.

"Actually in fact I brought you a little something."

"You did?" Jo asked. Surprised that the strange old man had thought to bring her something.

"It's something I've been working on… I mean… Well its just a little hobby of mine… Well Mac liked it… He tried it…"

"Sid." Jo said quickly, interrupting him wanting him to get to the chase.

Suddenly the room went silent. Even the noise from machines seemed to die out.

"I'm sorry." Jo said embarrassed, pulling away from Ellie. "I don't know why I just said that." She looked down, wishing she hadn't have opened her big mouth.

"No, Jo. Don't worry." Sid said in haste. "This is great news." He said. Happy that it had been his name she remembered first.

"My name is Sid." And he sat by her bedside.

"Mom?"

"Yes hunny" Jo again replied instinctively.

"Do you remember me?"

"Of course I do, Ellie." Jo said, trying to improvise.

"When's my birthday then?" Ellie questioned her.

Jo felt useless and burst out in floods of tears,

"Oh Ellie" Jo said as Ellie held onto her tight.

Tears filed in Ellie's eyes and the two of them sat curled on the bed in the hospital, in each other's arms.

-0-

"Are we nearly there yet?" Sheldon asked out loud, although he'd actually intended on wording his question differently.

A shadow of a smile briefly appeared on Flack's face.

"Nearly." Flack replied.

Mac checked and then loaded his weapon, kissed his cross and tucked in safety away in his shirt. He wanted his team whole again; they were his family in an odd sense. A faint mummer of a thought swept across his mind; maybe after he rescued Danny and Adam, Jo might remember him. Or maybe she'd just fall for him all over again. He wanted to be her hero.

Flack pulled up next to some New Jersey squad cars, it was not far from the location, but in order to keep the perpetrates from being alerted to the police's presence, they kept their distance.

Flack walked up to a detective from New Jersey who gave him a radio and some bulletproof vests.

"A group of police officers were crowding round New Jersey Inspector Thomas, who was boosting moral to the team."

The three newcomers joined the crowd, as the final words were being said.

"…Good Luck and God Bless."

"No." The inspector said as he looked across to The New York Detectives.

"No, I will not lead you take part in this, its way too personal for you guys"

"With all due respect, Inspector. It was our Guys that alerted you to this" Mac pointed forcefully in the direction of the house with authority. The house was a little way down a country looking road with tree's over hanging, creating a tunnel effect.

"Yes, but we have jurisdiction Taylor."

"That is as maybe, but with or without your permission I am going in. I should imagine that it would look better on your part if we assist you with this, rather than us just going in. We are wasting time." Mac threw his hand in the air and let out a large pent up breath.

"Fine." Inspector Thomas gave in grumbling. "You follow MY orders" He used his thumb to indicate himself as the important commander and walked off.

Sheldon pulled over his vest, "Here goes nothing," He mumbled.

The New Jersey Police and the three New York Detectives headed down the road where, to their surprise where confronted with FBI Agents. Wearing Black suits and sunglasses.

"This is a safe house, you can't enter." The taller one stood forward.

The inspector looked surprised and so looked back to Mac for help, as he was unsure what to say.

Mac stepped forward and a gun was drawn on him.

"In New York, we have incriminating evidence that suggests that there is a branch of the FBI that has become corrupt under the lead of Agent Russell Josephson." Mac stepped forwards, realising that these FBI Agents were clean, they were just doing what they were told. "If you don't let us in, I'll have you put away for aiding and abetting. Your Choice."

The Two men looked at each other. "Can we see your Id please?" The other asked.

Mac rolled his eyes and thrust his badge into their faces.

"Move Over." Mac said Impatiently and pushed passed as he lead the New Jersey Police force into the building.

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Nobody's here, they must have cleared out." Flack said to Mac.

"Mac…" Sheldon shouted from what appeared to be the living room.

Mac ran towards Sheldon.

"Blood."

Flack looked around the room in the kitchen where is eye caught sight of a draw that wasn't completely closed. He opened it.

"Guys…" Mac and Sheldon moved with haste to Flack.

"They were here." Mac looked intensely into the draw. "Those are their things."

Sheldon looked through the back door that was open.

"Has anyone been out back?" he asked loud enough for the New Jersey squad to hush, they shook their head simultaneously.

Mac pulled his gun out, and nodded to Flack who was standing on the opposite side of the door, they then opened in and covered each other as they entered a large field with a barn in the far corner.

Slowly and cautiously Mac and Flack headed towards it while Sheldon organised the New Jersey team behind them.

-0-

Danny was weak, he'd slowed his breathing as much as he could, but his lungs were screaming for air, his heart thudded so loudly, he couldn't hear his own thoughts. Air had slowly been taken away, when they stopped taking it away, they didn't add anymore. This was designed to be a slow and painful death.

What Marino really wanted was for Adam to tell him what he wanted to hear. Marino had a book, which was supposed to be in the hanger the day that the NYPD interrupted their plans. Detourus and Marino said that this would have been their last encounter. Detourus was sloppy and careless; it was not the way that Marino liked to operate. So there was one last favour to draw the line, help him kidnap Jo and Detourus would hand over the book, the book that told the truth of Marino's true identity. This was the truth that, if got out, would ruin him for good.

Adam was in pain, watching his close friend and Co-worker suffer was hard enough; but Marino had suggested that he was next. All he kept thinking was someone; anyone was going to burst down the door. But no one did. He felt like this was the end.

Things like this shouldn't happen to a lab tech, to anyone. He rarely went out in the field, although he wanted more involvement outside the lab, he wasn't a cop.

-0-

Jo had been confused, but quite happy until that moment. Her face dropped as slowly, but surely some things returned to her.

She started faffing around her bed covers in an attempt to get out but winced in a pain, not remembering the traumatic ordeal that had put her in the hospital in the first place.

"Mom?" Ellie asked.

"I need to get out of here."

"You need to stay there." Sid intervened "Doctor's Orders"

"Where's Mac?" She demanded.

Ellie's smile fell a little. "You remember him?" Ellie asked nervously

"No." Jo shook her head in disappointment; she wanted to remember something, anything, but what she'd finally thought of. " I need to talk to him though."

"Why?" Sid asked, concerned.

"I remember Russ." Jo whispered.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Sid asked, trying not to seem dense.

"No." She said shortly and quietly, knowing that she'd obviously not told Sid the real reason for the divorce.

"Mac hasn't come back yet." Sid finally answered her question. "He'll still searching for Adam and Danny."

"Okay Do you mind if you go and get Tyler for me please?" Jo asked Ellie who stood up quietly and walked out of the door.

"Sid" Sid head turned to face Jo, when they get back, do you think that you could take Ellie for some hot chocolate or something. I need to talk to Tyler. Alone."

"Erh, Sure" Sid said. Jo had never told him the real reason for her and Russell's divorce, she'd spin some rubbish about them falling out of love. People in the lab knew it was something deeper than that. It was the way she avoided the questions.

Tyler appeared in the doorway.

"Mom!" He went up to her bedside to hug her. Although it wasn't necessarily a teenage/young adult boyish thing to do, he kissed his mom on the cheek.

"Mom, you got to promise me. NEVER to do that again."

At this moment in time Jo was in a small state of shock.

Yes she remembered her son Tyler, but when she remember was another matter. She still pictured him a small boy of about 9 or 10. Tyler was now 20.

Sid and Ellie left for some hot chocolate.

"Hey" she said.

"Mom, are you ok."

"My memory's not what it used to be." She told him. "I need some help going through some things in my head and I wasn't sure who else to trust."

"Okay" Tyler said nodding his head, understandingly.

"So we moved to New York, when?"

"Nearly 2 Years ago, you got a job in the NYPD crime lab."

"Who is Mac to me?"

Tyler scoffed a little.

"What?"

"Mom, he's a close friend, you're boss." Tyler looked at her to hint that he thought they were a cute couple.

"Tyler!" She slapped him playfully on the arm. "This is serious."

"Okay, You are very close."

He pulled out his phone. "This was last weekend." He showed her a picture of a day out they'd had in central park and shopping.

"Okay."

"-Oh and mom,"

"Yes?"

"He moved in with us?"

"What?" She was mortified at first, but then she remembered that she had no clue what had happened in the last 10years or so, and things would slowly come back to her. Eventually.

"He had to pay a $1million ransom for your safe return. He sold his apartment."

"He did that? For Me?"

"Yeah, I helped him move in with us, so he had a place to stay."

There was silence for a short while, so there was time to process the information.

"You know why I left your father, right?"

Tyler suddenly went quiet. "Mom you said never to talk about it."

"I think this qualifies as an exception."

"Right, yes you told me when I was 18. I remember bits and pieces."

"Would it have been likely that I have told anyone else?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Not even Mac?"

"Maybe. No, I don't think so." Tyler struggled.

"Thank you."

"Mom, get some sleep, you might remember more later."

"I can only hope." She said and carefully lay back down.

-0-

The two square looking guys had found Mac's apartment. They barged through the door into the apartment. They then saw the place to be empty, other than a few boxes, nobody lived here, not now at least.

"What are we going to tell Russ?" the shorter one growled

"Nothing, we find it." The other said, he sounded more convinced than he actually was feeling.

"You know what will happen if we don't find it?"

"Yes." The other steamed as he went red in the face with anger at the other one.

They searched the place, cupboards, a loose floorboard, but to no avail. The shorter one got stroppy and stormed out of the place. As the larger one went to leave, an estate agent was showing a couple the apartment.

"Woaw," A young woman squealed excitedly.

"This is our new home." An English Accent pronounced as the woman shrieked with laughter.

They blindly went into a death trap.

Once they had gone in as far as the living room, the square guy loaded his AK47.

"Hey!" He bellowed at them. Suddenly the three turned around.

"Do you know where it is?"

"Where what is?" The Englishman asked.

"Please don't hurt us!" The woman cried irrationally "We'll do anything" She continued, clutching to the Englishman. "We won't go to the cops. Please leave"

"Leave?" Suddenly the gunman seemed more of a threat. "Tell me where the book is. If you don't I AM going to shoot you. All of you."

"We only just moved here." The woman cried.

The Guy aimed, and fired once, landing a bullet in her leg. To which she cried out in pain.

"HELP!" The estate agent suddenly shouted yelling. Well, he had to be dealt with. A bullet was shot through his heart.

"Why are you doing this?" The Englishman asked weakly, not expecting an answer.

"Target practice." And with that, he killed the two remaining, with two clean shots to the head.

He also then stormed out, happy that he'd had some fun, but annoyed that he still hadn't found what he was looking for.

-0-

"Ellie" Jo said

"Mom?" Ellie answered slightly concerned.

"You're birthday is the 31st October 1997" Jo stated proudly, smiling like a new mother at the sight of her newborn.

Ellie's eyes lit up.

"MOM!" she exclaimed wrapping her arms tight around Jo. After a short while, Ellie pulled back.

"Mom, do you remember anyone else?"

Suddenly, the happiness faded from her face and then she silently shook her head dejectedly.

-0-

Mac and Flack head Russ bellowing threats from inside the Barn, suddenly they looked at each other knowing they were about to bust this thing wide open.

They waited at the door anxiously for back up to arrive. With a hand signal, Mac indicated for flack to open the door.

"SHIT!" He heard from inside. "We've been made."

Someone darted up stairs.

"Danny?" Mac called, fearing the worst.

"Adam?" Flack nervously asked.

He heard banging from the left of the building and went, holding his gun out, to investigate.

"Flack!" We have Adam.

Adam was furiously trying to get Mac's attention long enough so he could communicate the situation.

"DANNY!" He yelled as load as his lungs would allow, although Mac only heard a murmur.

Adam pointed to another glass cell. Mac's response was to look confused, but he hastily turned around and saw Danny lying on the floor.

"Danny!" He yelled.

Mac went to the door but it would not open. He looked around the glass panel and saw a weakness in the welding, holding the bullet proof glass in place.

He grabbed a chair that was close to the stairway and charged at the panel, forcing it to fall inside the cell, it did not break on the way through and nearly fell right on top of Danny.

Mac climbed inside hastily and reached out to Danny.

He was not breathing.

"Danny!" Mac yelled at him. "C'mon Danny, you can make this." He started CPR, pounding at his chest in attempt to get his heart beating.

"Think of Lucy and Lindsey." Mac told him.

"SQUEEZE MY HAND IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!" He instructed him.

Nothing.

-0-

The officers that were supposed to be backing Mac and Flack up had got cold feet, and weren't necessarily the fastest on their toes when it came to catching the suspects.

Russ and Klein had now also fled the scene.

Fire fighters had arrived before the ambulance, starting a procedure that would get Adam out.

Mac was still attempting to revive his co-worker, his friend.

"Hawlkes!" Mac Shouted as loud as he could. Within seconds Sheldon was there. "Help me get him outside."

Mac Carried Danny to the Sheldon, where the glass panel had been. "Have we got the guys?"

Sheldon shook his head in annoyance,

"Not one?" Mac said, not quite believing what he was hearing.

"Jersey PD" Sheldon replied as if it explained everything and quickly ran out of the door with Danny.

The Ambulance pulled up imminently and took Danny to the closest hospital; Sheldon went with him, so that he had somebody with him. He also called Lindsey who was also on her way to see Danny.

Flack turned back. And followed Mac up the stairs to where he assumed the three had fled.

Flack lead, Mac closely behind covering him.

Suddenly shot open fired at the two detectives, instinctively they ducked for cover, but not before getting a couple of rounds off for themselves first.

"You have no where to go." Flack called. "Surrender now, no one needs to get hurt."

Russell stood up, and walked to the stairway where Mac and Flack were.

Mac hated that man, his blood was boiling, he was sure that steam was being pushed from his ears. Mac gritted his teeth and blew out a breath that he did not realising he was holding in.

"I surrender." Russ said with his hands above his head and then winked at Mac.

Flack glanced around with an expression on his face that almost made Mac laugh.

"Walk over here slowly." Mac Instructed, the man that had caused him so much heartache. He really just wanted to put a bullet right between the evil man's eyes, but he couldn't do that.

Russ stepped forwards where Flack checked him for weapons, there were none. So Mac pulled his handcuff from his back and cuffed him.

"Right, you need to make it look realistic." Russ said, then much quieter he whispered, "I'm undercover."

"Don't play games with me." Mac growled as more shots open fired from the remaining criminals on the loose.

Mac had to move Russ out of the way from the gunfire; he was now in police custody. Unfortunately he could not now be killed. As much as Mac wanted to throw Dobson off of the roof a few years ago he couldn't, the badge meant far too much to him that and that hadn't changed. However, now he was tempted.

The strong smell of paint began to overwhelm them, Flack hadn't noticed until now, but it was stronger than he would have liked. Mac smelt it too, what were they doing up there?

Flack called for back-up to escort Russ downstairs. They took their time, but one brave NJPD officer entered the stairway to take Russ downstairs.

"They've got this all wrong." Russ began to tell the new officer. "I'm with the FBI. I'm under cover." The officer looked up at Mac and Flack, unsure what to do.

"Don't listen to him." Flack told the young man in a tone of annoyance, it seemed that he actually had to point out the obvious.

Flack took some steps forward and peeked around a corner, before deciding it was safe. Mac glanced behind and then followed Flack.

"When I get back. I want a raise." Flack told Mac.

Mac smiled, but remained serious.

"Detectives." A voice called. The turned to the sound but knew that they'd set up a trap. If they walked into that room, they'd be shot.

"Where are the Damn Squad team?" Flack cursed.

He did not wait for an answer and just edged forward to the doorway, not allowing himself to be seen.

They heard a German man shouting.

"Where are you going to go?" Flack asked.

"You're surrounded." Mac added. "Give it up now."

"Come and get me." He toyed. Flack peeked around and signalled Mac to wait here. Mac replied with a nod.

For strength Mac thought of Jo, of their Kiss and how he wanted more. As soon as they were out of this, he was going to spend the rest of his life with her.

Mac was brought back to reality with a bang. A gunshot to be precise. He looked around to see Flack lying on the floor; his chest was rising and falling. The bullet must have hit his vest. Suddenly Flack went dead still, this concerned Mac, although he had to admit he'd never seen such a change in state in all the years he'd worked around danger.

I love you Jo. He went through, gun at the ready.

"Drop it."

"You wish"

The Italian had diverted his attention to Mac; he hadn't noticed that Flack had been faking his serious injury. Flack spun around and shot Marino clean in the heart and Marino dropped to the floor.

"You don't know how many people you just pissed off." Klein jumped in. Pointing his AK47 at Flack.

"Don't you think enough people have been hurt?" Mac spat angrily, furious that these people just wouldn't quit.

They both knew, if Klein fired at that range, it would slice right through the bulletproof vest like knife through butter.

Mac pulled is gun up to aim, and Klein spun around and pointed the gun in Mac's face.

Don fired again, shooting Klein in the leg. He didn't want to kill anybody else today if he could help it.

Mac Pulled away the weapon and threw it across the room, so as it was out of reach and hoisted the German us so as he could handcuff him.

Flack got up and winced in pain, the vest had saved his life, but not from the force of the bullet. He felt like he'd broken a rib or two.

Mac picked up the radio and announced a code 4. To which all officers suddenly felt the need to respond, knowing that Code 4 means situation under control, no further assistance needed.

Two offers took control of Klein and Mac helped don down the stairs.

"Fat lotta good you lot were." Flack told the New Jersey PD and Inspector Thomas knew he was being harsh, but it was true and they needed to hear it.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**_

_**Okay, sorry it was a bit rushed. I felt I needed to post something soon, just to prove I haven't given up. (: I recon 1 chapter and I'll call it a wrap. (: Thank you for reading.  
><strong>_

_** Please Review, It would mean the world to me (:  
><strong>_


	17. The Great Escape

Chapter 17 - The Great Escape

Now that the criminals had been caught, Mac was relieved to think he could actually spend some time with Jo, even if she didn't remember him, he needed to be there for his heart too. Unconsciously his heart called out to Jo's no matter where in the world they were, he'd always have a loving connection directly to her. For the second time with Jo, he was forced to feel like a schoolboy with a crush. Sometimes he thought love had crushed him but Jo was living proof that there was one person out there for everyone. Although he'd had his ego knocked slightly he couldn't help the way he felt. He just hoped soon that she'd regain her memory. He knew it was silly of him deep down, but he thought that maybe Jo simply wouldn't love him anymore and the love was completely one sided.

He tore his mind away from his personal heartache and put his mindset back into business, he cleared his throat and stood up straight to clear his thoughts. Mac patted down Russ and Klein, checking for weapons before presenting them to the New Jersey PD, since the crime had happened in New Jersey technically speaking they had jurisdiction.

After a short 5 minute deliberation, the Jersey PD decided amongst themselves that it would be better if Russ, and Klein were taken back to New York. That way they had little paperwork to do and they could all get home on time tonight. This meant that Flack, Mac Klein and Russ all had to travel back to New York in one police issue Avalanche.

"Just 'cause they're to god damn lazy to do the paper work" Flack grumbled, Mac was about to intercept but Flack carried on "and they call themselves Police. Waste of time. Waste of tax payers money." Flack was pissed right now, he his injuries caused him excruciating pain whenever he breathed, but he couldn't let Mac take two suspects back alone. Not when they were as dangerous as this and the New Jersey Police Department were not offering any help.

"Get in the Car." Mac bluntly ordered Russ.

"You know, my boss is going to have a field day" He replied as he ducked his head under to climb inside the Avalanche.

"Are you still preaching that undercover garbage?" Mac snapped.

Russ nodded and raised one corner of his lip into a sly smirk.

"Not when I'm finished with you." Mac gritted his teeth, if this was where Russ was heading, Russ obviously didn't wish to live for very long.

Before closing the door, Mac checked that the doors were on chid-lock so that the door could only be opened from the outside. Criminal Proof. Klein was pushed next to him and Flack carefully lowered himself into the front passenger seat.

"Flack, we really ought to get you to a hospital to get that looked at." Mac said as flack lowered himself gently into the seat, wincing slightly in pain.

"No, Mac I'm good." Flack argued, "Come on lets hit the road. I don't know about you but I wanna get home."

Mac looked into the rear mirror, noticing that Russ and Klein were looking at each other as if they were silently communicating an escape plan. There was an uneasy silence when Russ saw Mac looking directly at them making both Mac and Flack feel slightly on edge. They both sensed that this wasn't over yet, though they'd both had enough of the nightmare and wanted to begin recovery.

-0-

"WHAT?" A black figure shouted down the phone. At first he seemed angry, but then he came to relax, realising that nothing linked back to him. Marino was dead. He sighed in relief. And his voice became a quiet murmur.

He hung up the phone and smiled, knowing that his mission was over. He no longer had to find the damn book to bargain for his life. Soon, his square shoulders slumped slightly on a bar stool where he could finally sit back and enjoy the beer he'd just bought himself.  
>"Jacob." Someone called him. The Man's head swiveled around, and seeing a familiar face, he smiled. "The drinks are on me." He stated cheerily.<br>"You seem to be in a good mood," the other gruffed miserably.  
>"Marino has passed." The other simply said.<br>Suddenly the taller man stopped dead. "He's dead?"  
>"Urh-huh" The other confirmed. "I thought you'd be happy about that?"<br>"I am" he started, realising that they were out of immediate trouble from the Mafia, but not necessarily the police. "Its just." He stalled again, causing the other to glance a disapproving look towards his co-worker.  
>"I might have forgotten to clean up some target practice." He said clenching his teeth. If Marino had still been alive he would have had the mess cleaned up already.<br>"When? Where?" The other asked, not too worried about the situation.  
>"Detective Taylor's old apartment. After you left earlier."<br>"CALEB!" The other shouted, slamming his fist on the bar, leaving a dent, causing the few people sat across the other side of the bar to stop their conversations.  
>Jacob calmed himself, and when the conversations had resumed spoke in a low husk voice, "We gotta be the clean up crew." He snapped and headed for the door without another word.<br>Caleb did nothing but hang his head in shame and follow the other, shorter square figure out of the bar.

-0-

Nearly half way back to The Big Apple, Russ declared that he needed a toilet break and that he knew of a gas station that they were approaching.  
>"Go Ahead. Piss your self." Flack told him bluntly.<br>"I know my rights." Russ Replied.  
>"The Avalanche is police issue, they'll just give us a new one while they clean it."<br>Mac briefly looked in Flack's direction, initially amused, but then was slightly concerned how deadly serious he was. However on the other hand, Flack was injured and Mac himself could sense something was up. If they did stop and Flack couldn't hold Klein, Mac couldn't take on the two of them alone.  
>"I think the NJPD are really taking the piss." Flack stated. "I ought to report this." He went into quiet muttering rants that were not intended for anyone to hear but it amused Russ slightly.<p>

Russ lent back into his seat and nodded to Klein. Klein had been quiet pissed off the whole journey, and had not said anything. Mac thought that he might actually have a brain cell was going to use his right to remain silent wisely. Suddenly, while Mac drove around a bend in the road. Klein un-did his seat belt and quickly jammed his foot into the back of flack's seat causing him to groan out of pain. While his back was stretched he silently grabbed the gun Flack had had in his un-clipped holster. Mac put his arm out to try and intervene, but quickly had to swerve to regain control of the SUV.

"Drive to the gas station a little further up." He ordered shifting the gun to Mac's head. Mac glanced around to see Don whimpering quietly in pain.

"Bastards." Mac muttered to himself.

Mac looked in his rear view mirror to see a man holding a gun to his head. This, Unfortunately, was not an unfamiliar situation. Last time this happen he found himself in New Jersey after being taken hostage, kidnapped, shot at, nearly drowned and dumped in the upper bay of the Hudson river mouth, not memories that he was particularly fond of.

Mac shot them dagger looks thought the rear view mirror and preceded down the road. He knew that he could get NYPD back up, if only he could reach the darn radio without them noticing. Unofficially, to help them out, he knew that the 12th precinct's officers would venture out into New Jersey if needs be.

He signaled to turn left, wondering if they would notice that he'd gone the wrong way. They didn't.

This told Mac that they just wanted somewhere slightly out of the way to do what they wanted. Possibly dump Mac and Flack, either dead or alive and take the Avalanche as transport out of New Jersey, if Mac had anything to do with it, this would not be happening.

Mac glanced down at the car door, where in the pocket he kept another round of bullets. He looked back cautiously to Klein who was staring at him. Mac chose to discretely take his left hand off the steering wheel for a while, after he thought it was safe, he dipped his hand into the door pocket and with one silent swoop picked up the bullets and place them in his jacket pocket. Then from the pocket he pulled out a handkerchief, and pretended to blow his nose. This was so that he had a reasonable explanation for putting his hand in the pocket in the first place. He did not want to upset his trigger-happy criminals in the back seat.

Mac was shaking slightly but he retained his cool. Once again he glanced over to Flack who had gone paler, and was gently resting his arm over where it hurt. His face told Mac that he was in intense pain, his jaw was clenched and he was slumped slightly, leaning on the door. He did not look very well at all.

Mac knew that his clip was nearly empty, it probably only had 2 bullets left in it. He also knew that Russ wasn't likely to forget that Mac had a gun.  
>Mac decided he'd try at get to as close to New York as he could before they realised where they were going, he'd just have to used less known roads in the hope they'd get lost before it was too late and backup could arrive in seconds.<p>

With out warning, Russ snatched the gun from Klein, and shoved it into Mac's skull.  
>"Nice try" he said, his finger played on the trigger.<br>Mac thought quickly and put his foot on the accelerator, praying to god that his plan would pay off and he'd get to live another day, if not for himself but for Jo.

Russ could see clearly what Mac was doing. If Mac were to travel at a fast enough speed, Russ wouldn't dare take the risk of shooting the only person in charge of the car.

"PULL OVER" He yelled at Mac, who, for a change was willing to comply. Mac wanted this over and he knew he couldn't keep up this speed as soon as they got closer to New York and the famous traffic.

Mac pulled up into what looked like an old abandoned parking lot. Making a hand break turn, he caused Russ to loose his balance so that he swiftly smashed into the door.

He let out an irritated growl and then used one of Flacks few remaining bullets to shoot the lock and open the criminal proof door. Klein, Mac and Russ got out into the spacious car park.

"Give it up" Russ ordered Mac, a pointing a gun at him. Russ wanted Mac to beg for his life, but Mac knew then and there that, that certainly was not going to happen.

This location gave them a level playing field; there was nothing to hide behind, and nowhere to run. It was at this point when it dawned on Mac that it was either he and Flack OR Russ and Klein that got out of here alive, and he'd rather it was the former.

Mac crouched by the driver's side door, looking over the hood every once in a while to keep check on the locations of the criminals. He reloaded bullets into his clip and loaded the gun, keeping it hidden.

Suddenly Klein appeared out of nowhere and stared down at him.

"Russ." He called wanting Russ's attention to be brought to a mutual enemy, although Russ already knew where Mac was, he wasn't blind and had seen him move. Russ found this gesture rather insulting.

"Shoot the bastard." Klein ordered.

Russ looked over to his younger friend. Although Klein's status was meant to be higher than Russ's, Russ shot him a disapproving look. Russ did not enjoy being told what to do and wasn't used to it.

Klein Glared at Mac, Scowling slightly.

"What are you waiting for?" Klein demanded again.

Russ sighed quietly to himself. 'What was he waiting for? Durh. Mac had a gun' He thought to himself.

Russ took a few steps closer, Mac stood up, at which point Klein saw the gun and then he retreated, taking a few steps back.

Russ aimed his gun at Flack who was still in the passenger seat of the Avalanche. Flack was trying to communicate with the NYPD because he didn't hold much hope for the NJPD, by this point he was bent over in pain from his earlier injuries and the fact he hadn't had medical attention was making him more agitated and it wasn't helping the pain he was in. He knocked the Radio onto the floor so Russ wouldn't be able to see what he was doing.

"Drop it!" Russ Growled to Mac. "Or I shoot."

Mac thought about dropping the gun. But he held his stance strongly, not wanting to back down to this bully.

"Russ I suggest you put the gun down." He said as calmly as humanly possible under the circumstances realising that a good friend was helpless and caught in the middle of this.

Russ looked at him to say 'You must be having a laugh' and then smirked as he tightened his grip on the trigger.

"Russ." Klein warned.

Russ's attention moved to Klein who was attempting to save his life.

"What?"

"This isn't going to end well." Klein grunted. "We should just get outta here." He suggested.

Russ shook his head to ignore him; he had a personal dislike towards Mac and turned back to the man he despised and then an idea popped into his head.

"Isn't it funny how Jo doesn't remember you." He mused, pulling his weapon away from flack and lowering it down to his side.

Mac shot him a horrified questioning look. He now began to feel his blood boiling; he tensed slightly and stared at Russ, tightening his own hand around the gun he clutched. 'One foot out of line and you get a bullet in your brain' Mac silently promised.

"FBI" Russ reminded him arrogantly answering the expression on his face.

Mac let out a slight angered growl, straining himself not to shoot without a justifiable reason. Right now, Russ wasn't threatening anybody; there wasn't a good enough reason for Mac to place a bullet into the pathetic excuse for a man. As soon as there was a justifiable reason, he would shoot the cold-blooded killer dead. Unfortunately Russ had to be an immediate danger, he couldn't be shot for what he'd already done. Even though for once in his life Mac was tempted.

With this thought Mac thought of Jo, wondering why Russ and Jo had lasted as long as they did, and why she never gave him an actual answer to why they separated, why did she always weave around the topic? Could there be something that Mac didn't know?

Mac walked around the front of the car so that he was face to face with Russell so that Flack wasn't in any more danger than he had to be.

This was a situation in which he found himself vulnerable, he had no bulletproof vest, and now he wasn't able to take cover, for if he took cover behind the car again it put Flack in the middle of a firing range. Mac wasn't one to endanger his colleagues and friends.

Russ opened his mouth again. "She still loves me." He provoked, inflicting more pain into Mac's chest. Russ was like a needle, prodding Mac's heart, making it bleed with the abusive torments he kept firing. Something inside Mac snapped. He no longer just wanted to kill Russ; he wanted to make the bastard suffer.

Mac brought his mind to a thought he'd had when he'd last seen Russ at the hospital. He was thinking that although Russ was larger than him, he could easily take him down. Mac knew he was faster and stronger that him. He wasn't sure however if he could overpower Klein also. But no the less, now more than anything, he wanted to test that theory.

Russ checked the weapon he had in his hand.

"Two Bullets" He said out loud, looking across to Klein. "One for each of them." He concluded cunningly as he loaded the gun, curling his lip into an evil smirk.

"Do you think she'd take me back?" Russ cruelly teased; forcing Mac's heart to stop in its tracks, Mac felt that he was suffocating under the thought, desperately trying to conceal his emotions. Russ shifted towards the car again, looking at Flack, checking whether he was conscious or not. Mac took his opportunity and dived straight into Russ, Knocking the gun out of his hand. It fell to the floor and on impact shot once widely into space.

Russ threw a punch that Mac had foreseen and in return elbowed him in the face, causing Russ to have a nosebleed. He raised his hand to wipe the blood from his nose and shot a disgusted stare at Mac, however he seemed almost bent down for the gun, but just as he reached out, Mac kicked him in the ribs, causing Russ to temporarily collapse.

Soon enough, he was back on his feet, charging at Mac. Mac blocked a punched aimed at his stomach and dodged a kick to the groin. He threw a punch into Russ's jaw, making him squeal a little.

A sly part of Mac was enjoying this.

Russ threw his weight into a punch that overpowered Mac and they both fell to the floor. Mac felt his jaw cry out in pain, but he could handle it, it was nothing compared to the pain Russ had caused to his heart.

Klein was slightly enjoying watching the smaller man beat up someone that thought he was a 'tough guy' however he'd seen enough and felt sorry for his friend.

Mac and Russ stood up and another hard punch was landed into Russ's jaw causing him to yelp. Klein rolled his eyes as he approached the one-sided fight. He then knelt down for the gun, which landed him with a kick to the nose from Mac. That was something that had not been expected. Klein was shorter than Mac, he had also had military experience but Mac seemed to be stronger. However both Russ and Klein against him worried Mac slightly.

Klein fell back in shock for a few seconds while Mac took a few more blows from Russ. Soon enough though Mac was in the very situation he feared. Taking on the both of them. The first time Klein came at him he managed to hurl Russ into him and so it took him off of the rampage he was on momentarily.

Mac stretched slightly before Klein charged at him for a second time but this time he was slightly crouched down, in rugby tackle position. When he executed his tackle he knocked both of them off of their feet. Russ stood over them, and Kicked Mac sharply in the ribs and then Mac took a massive blow to the head in the head.

Excruciating pain shot through Mac's body. Slowly he lifted his hand to his head where it was slightly damp from blood. He closed one eye followed by the other, concentrating to master the pain, telling himself that pain was in the mind.

Russ grabbed Mac by his collar and lifted him up, so his feet could not touch the ground.

"Pass me the gun." He growled to Klein shortly.

-0-

Jo sat up in the hospital bed, touching her lip, where it had been split in the earlier incident from earlier that she couldn't remember. She looked around the room, where she saw her beloved daughter Ellie, sleeping awkwardly in a mint green hospital chair besides the bed. Sid entered the room talking before he'd fully gotten through the door although he didn't awaken Ellie. "The Doctor's Okayed this." He told her showing her the flask he was carrying. "Home Made Chicken Soup. My wife is an excellent cook." He announced proudly, "Like I was was, she is a chef. Its how we met." He sat marvelling the recollection of the memory.

Jo could still not remember anything good that had happened in the last 10 years.

After a few moments of silence Sid tried to talk again "Do you remember anything else?" he carefully asked, he wasn't certain of her reaction.

Jo pursed her lips together tight into a thin line. She had remembered bits and peaces but she figured it was a far too deep conversation to go into right now and she still didn't really know who this man was. All she knew that she was talking to a guy named Sid.

She shook her head slowly, hoping that he'd just leave it at that.

"Hey!" He said in a more cheery tone, instantly changing the increasingly depressive atmosphere. "Did you hear the good news?" He smiled at her as he took a seat next to the bed.

"Mac, Flack and Sheldon found Danny and Adam." He looked into her eyes, trying to convey what great news it really was, telling her that if she hadn't forgotten, she'd be over the moon. He started smiling widely when he noticed that at hearing their names her face lit up with recognition.

"Are they all okay?" She felt herself ask in a more concerned voice than she'd intended, but at the same time it felt natural.

Sid nodded once and then elaborated. " Danny is at Alexander Hospital, Princeton… I don't know how he's doing." Sid shook his head, wishing well for his friend. "Lindsey and Lucy went to see him and Sheldon's there." Sid paused realising Jo really didn't have a clue about who these people really were and what they meant to her. "Antonio Marino was killed, Flack shot him" Sid finished.

"Is Mac back yet?" Jo pressed, feeling a deeper connection when his name rolled of her tongue. Her heart skipped a beat and she couldn't explain why, something deep within her soul yearned for this stranger. A feeling that she was not used to.

"No." Sid pulled a confused face, checking his watch. "He should be back soon though." He forced he lower lip forward and nodded solemnly. "I can go and check if you'd like?" He offered, using his arm to gesture he could go.

"Please." Jo said

"Here," Sid handed her the flask. "Enjoy."

"Thank you." Jo said, "For everything,"

Sid nodded one final time and walked out of the hospital recovery room to search for some answers.

-0-

"Tyler." James asked when he noticed that Tyler had woken up.

"Hmmm" Tyler said sleepily, he'd been sleeping however it wasn't a peaceful sleep, he was still exhausted and on edge with the whole situation.

"Where's Ellie?" He asked. Ellie was the only one that he felt could really talk to here.

Tyler yawned before he answered. "With mom." He said and closed his eyes once again.

"Mom?" James repeated slowly "Your mom?" James asked, still not really knowing what happened to his own mom. James hoped that Ellie and he really could share parents.

"Yeah" Tyler turned and rested his head in a more comfortable position on the chair.

James tried to smile but he was completely isolated. He looked around and then stood up from being sat on the floor, James then yawned himself and made his way to a man that he vaguely recognised his father taking to.

James shifted on his feet, embarrassed to ask the grey haired man for help. "Erhh… Sir… Do you know where Ellie Danville is?"

"Hey James" Sid replied. "Yeah, I do." Sid smiled at the boy who was still shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"I've gotta make a quick phone call" Sid said and held out his hand. "Do you wanna wait here? You can sit with my wife if you like."

James nodded and took Sid's hand to wait with Moira, Sid's wife.

-0-

In Alexander hospital in Princeton, Lindsey and Lucy had just arrived, but much like Bellevue Hospital in New York there was little the doctors said that they could do so they had to wait.

Lindsey felt like her heart was going to fall right out of her chest and into her stomach, she was sick with worry. Lucy wasn't sure what was going on but knew her daddy was in trouble, which made her feel sick too.

"Mommy?" Lucy asked when the silence had got too much.

"Yes honey?" Lindsey tried to put on a brave face hiding behind her motherly walls, trying to protect Lucy but inside she was screaming for Danny to pull through.

"Where's Daddy?"

Lindsey's chest began to feel tight; her emotions were pounding, beating down her defences. She sucked in a deep breath as she found it hard to breathe. Lindsey held her daughter close, part of Danny close, and whispered comforts.

"The Doctors are taking very good care of him. It will be okay" Lindsey replied, trying to convince herself rather than her 3 year old daughter.

Lucy said nothing further and wrapped her small arms around her mother's neck clinging on for dear life. Being a daddy's girl, she wanted nothing more than to see her Dad now.

"It will be Okay." Lucy repeated. Lindsey hadn't realised until now that tears where screaming down her cheeks and her daughter was comforting her.

Suddenly Sheldon came around the corner.

"Lindsey!" He called, jogging up to her.

"Hey," She looked down slightly embarrassed that her daughter was comforting her, and the situation was not the other way around.

"How is he?"

"He's actually doing pretty well considering." Sheldon said, trying to make them both feel better. "Looks like we got to him just in time."

Relief swept over Lindsey, so much so she nearly fell over.

"Can I see Daddy now?" Lucy asked

"Not yet sweetie" Lindsey looked down at Lucy who was desperately tugging on her sleeve to take her to her father.

"Do you know what happened?" Lindsey asked, she still hadn't been told anything except he was here in the Alexander Hospital.

"It was some sort of perverted torture experiment I think." Sheldon replied, realising that didn't help much he continued. "Danny was gradually starved of oxygen for at least a few hours"

Lindsey immediately thought of Jo, and how she'd forgotten the last 10 years because of Oxygen Starvation and that was only a few minutes. "Wi… Will he remember?" Lindsey stuttered.

Sheldon smiled slightly, "He'll be just fine." He reassured her "Mac got to him in time, and if you're thinking of Jo, she was already weak before she went into cardiac arrest; she also slipped into a coma," He said sadly and then he quickly added "she'll be okay too." The last part he was really just hoping that she would be OK. He worried for Mac, if she never remembered this would destroy him.

"Danny had a minor case of Hypoxia, He had a seizure at the scene and he had an extremely low white cell count when he was admitted, he had a partial blood transfusion and he was put of a ventilator as precaution. He comes off…" Sheldon looked at his watch to give an exact time. "… In about an hour."

Happy with the honest reply that her friend had given her she loudly exhaled. "Thank god." She smiled "When can we see him?"

"I can take you up there now if you want?"

Lindsey nodded.

"The doctors down here told me to just wait." She said, annoyed that this information could have been relayed to her earlier. She was worried sick and sick of worrying.

"Hopeless" Sheldon said shaking his head as the three of them went to a recovery unit on the other side of the hospital. Sheldon really was started to not like New Jersey all that much

-0-

Mac's brain had repeated on many occasions that the pain was in his head to overcome it. He watched in slow motion as Klein picked up the weapon on the floor and pass it to Russ.

"One Bullet left." Russ stated as he brought the gun closer. He Threw Mac down, however to his surprise Mac didn't fall to the floor like he had expected, Mac just stood on his feet.

He closed his eyes and prepared himself slightly. Russ was confused by Mac's actions and did not move, wondering what Mac's next move might be.

Without Noticing the three men had drifted away from the Avalanche in their fight. Klein turned around.

"Do you think you can deal with him?" He said shortly and with the word 'him' gestured his head towards Mac.

Russ shot him a look that told Klein to leave him alone and let him deal with it himself. He was pissed that he'd been undermined and had to be rescued by younger Klein.

"Good." Klein continued. "I'll check on Donny Boy over here." He walked in the direction of the Avalanche.

Mac, for the second time ripped the gun out of Russ's hands, this time however it did not miss-fire like he had hoped.

Mac thought of Jo, and how that if he survived this he would be graced with her presence again. He had the luxury of remembering what they had before. He wasn't going to give up on her; his heart skipped a beat in excitement. He would see her again. He smiled at the thought.

"If you pick that up I WILL shoot you." Mac said in all seriousness. He was angry at what Russ had done, but he was afraid of what other people would think. Of what Sinclair would say about this when he learnt the truth about his and Jo's romantic involvement. The truth was that Mac was intentionally holding off shooting Russ because he didn't want to let Sinclair have any opportunity to build a police brutality case against him. If this had been any other criminal Mac would have shot him as soon as he had possession of the gun.

Russ laughed slightly as his fingers stretched out and grabbed the gun and pointed it at Mac.

A shot was fired.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN<strong>_

_**Ok so perhaps I like my story again and I haven't given up completely… I do think that it will have one last chapter though… I hope my loyal readers don't mind too much (: I do have another story planned and partially written for CSI New York so hopefully I'll be able to get that up soon (Not a sequel). **_

_**Anyway as always please feel free to Review, Thank you so much for the reviews I already have had… They really make my day and I have to say I've had a real confidence boost (hopefully not enough to make me cocky) (:**_

_**I haven't really had chance to read through it so I hope this chapter is ok (:**_

_**As always feel free to criticize, I hope to improve my English grades at school.**_

_**Thank you so much for Reading and hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon (:**_

_**REVIEW ;D ?  
><strong>_


	18. A Lifetime Ago

Chapter 18

Mac stood there in shock for a few seconds as the pathetic man bent over in pain, and fell to the floor. Mac had shot him in the heart and was dead before he hit the ground. Mac thought it was rather fitting, as that was where Russ had hurt Mac the most. Mac had emotionally been stabbed in the heart.

Mac gazed down at his gun, in a trance, replaying the past few seconds in his head. 'What was Sinclair going to think of this?' He unwillingly asked himself. There was a connection on a personal level, enough to make any human being absolutely livid. The suspect had been severely beaten and then shot by the law enforcement worker, Detective Mac Taylor. He knew this wasn't going to look good.

The badge meant a lot to him but Jo meant more. He could never justify killing another human being in his own head until now. Russ deserved to be where he was; he deserved to be peeled off of the concrete of the parking lot.

Without Mac noticing Klein had approached. He knew the game was over. And was gingerly holding his hands up in a surrender position. He was angry, not at Mac but at Russ. Russ had completely blown his chances of escaping a life sentence, rotting in jail.

Mac grabbed him by the jacket and led him to the Avalanche, as NYPD squad cars sped around the corner and suddenly came to a halt in the open area.

Don was still hanging on to consciousness and so had seen the events unravel before his own eyes.

Another officer got handcuffs and cuffed Klein he then escorted him into a police marked van with tinted windows and metal grids across the doors so that the prisoner could not escape.

"Will someone get him an ambulance?" Mac shouted to one of the approaching men, referring to Flack.

Flack shook his head, "I wanna get back to New York." He managed communicating that an ambulance from here would just take him to Alexander Hospital in New Jersey, he would later have to be transferred anyway and it would make more sense if they cut to the chase. Besides, he knew that Bellevue Hospital would be the first place Mac would be heading anyway.

Mac was right about something. Klein had had more brains that Russ and stayed alive. Mac could only hope that he would be put away for life until the day he died.

Mac handed one of the Police officers his weapon and got back into the Avalanche, smiling a Flack, he realised that this nightmare was all over.

"Ready to go?" Mac asked. "We'll get to Bellevue Hospital."

Mac left the door open from the Avalanche as a squad officer came to talk to the men.

"We'll need statements later at the precinct." The man with a moustache told then to which Mac just nodded. He felt slightly patronised he knew the procedure.

"I'm gonna get Flack back to New York, then the hospital." Mac said solidly with authority leaving no room for negotiating.

The officer nodded once and then looking down he stepped away; Mac slammed the door shut and left the car park. As they left, both Flack and Mac had mutual thoughts. 'Crazy week.'

Mac drove quickly, blaring the police sirens to the hospital.

Mac struggled to get Don to the emergency room, finally when Don had been where he was joined by Doctor Jones who had coincidentally had been assigned to help Don by one of the ER nurses.

"Hello again." Doctor Jones said as Mac helped lower Flack to a bed.

Mac Nodded in response and looked at Don.

"Mac, get outta here!" He told his friend coughing slightly and then wincing out in pain. "I'll be fine. Go see Jo!" he insisted and although it pained him, he lifted his arm to point at the door to show that he meant what he said.

Mac did not need to be told twice and without another word, he quickly slipped out of the room and hurried back to Jo.

Don knew Mac had his priorities and that is where he had to be, but he couldn't help but feel a little lonely when the door closed behind his friend.

-0-

It devastated Mac that he hadn't been able to spend much time with Jo since her abduction, he knew he had to be there for her now more that ever. The torture that Russ had inflicted on Mac's heart repeated over and began to taunt him. 'She Still loves me' He heard Russ say in his head over and over.

Mac reached the elevators and urgently pressed the call button. The elevators were already in use and therefore were running slowly. A doctor and a nurse ran around the corner with a patient lying, screaming on a hospital bed, a burn victim who needed urgent assistance.

The elevator door opened and Mac stepped aside for the medical staff. He wouldn't wait any longer for another so he took off on foot and ran up the four flights of stairs.

Mac's heart was racing, and he suspected it wasn't just because of the sudden exercise he'd just taken. Excitement coursed through his veins. For a moment then he thought he wasn't going to make it out of that parking lot. He was glad that she was doing better and on the mend, never being able see her again would have killed him. Mac didn't usually use words like this; even in his thoughts. He lost Claire in 9/11 and he didn't physically die, he was still standing, alive, 10 years later. But this was different, perhaps it was because he knew what Claire had become, perhaps it was because it was Katherine that had done this to Jo. Mac separated Claire and Katherine, categorizing his mind so that he could still morn the woman he had once loved and hate the person she'd turned into. However his attraction to Jo felt deeper than anything he'd ever felt before including Claire. He felt that if she were taken from him, he would simply disappear and fade into nothing. Which in itself sounded daft but this was something that he'd never felt before. If he was completely honest with himself, he had to admit it scared him.

Unlike the feelings that he felt earlier, his love for Jo was more than anything he'd ever encountered. It was not just different; it was a deeper, passionate connection. A small part of him was ashamed for not realising it sooner; over the last two years Jo had become his world. The saying 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' was true, he knew it sounded cheesy and cliché but he no longer cared, he loved Jo. He would shout it from the rooftops if he had to. Something in itself that he never thought he'd ever think of doing. Being a private man, Mac was reluctant to show his true feelings in public never mind broadcasting it.

Mac ran through the now seemingly familiar double doors of the hospital to her recovery room. When Mac burst through the doors he saw James and Ellie, lying awkwardly in the chair opposite the bed, asleep. They looked peaceful, and at home, which brought a smile to his face.

Sid was also in the room; he was hunched over leaning his arm on his knee, sat on a chair close to Jo.

Jo had been sleeping, but as if on cue, her eyes flickered open a few seconds after Mac appeared in the doorway.

"Mac"

"Jo" He spoke just above a whisper and ran to her bedside where he sat on the edge and carefully, they embraced as not to aggravate her injuries. He carefully examined the bruises on her face and moved a stray part of her fringe away from her eyes

She gently touched his jaw where there was an inflamed and angry bruise forming. "Are you okay?" She asked tenderly, "You might wanna get some ice," A fond smile played on Mac's lips; she was always looking after everyone else.

"I'm fine," He said looking down on himself, and felt a fool when realising that he looked a state. His shirt had been ripped, and slightly stained from both his and Russ's blood, and he'd picked up some dirt from the ground in the car park. He cursed himself for presenting himself to Jo without cleaning up first, he hadn't even checked his appearance.

"Actually Jo, I was wondering…"

Before Mac could finish Jo was already shaking her head miserably.

"No," She whispered, tears forming in her eyes as she was struggling to keep from bursting into tears. "I remember Ellie."

She saw the deep pain and hurt all over his face and could hold it in no more. She broke down in tears while Mac comforted her, rubbing her back in an attempt to calm her. He was hurt, he didn't want to show it, but he was hurt. Inside he was suffering, deeply wounded by the pain that Jo had had to endure. It brought some comfort to him that it was over now, however mentally the nightmare was still raging through his soul. He felt so alone. It was a situation that the two of them would have to get over together. He knew what he was missing; Jo had no idea what they felt for each other. That fact stuck needles into his heart, surging hurt and discomfort through his body.

At this point Sid decided to intervene so as to remind them that he and their children were there.  
>"Hello Mac, good to see you." He said sleepily.<br>"Good Afternoon Sid." Mac replied, "Nice sleep?"  
>"I wasn't sleeping." Sid protested with a yawn. "Just resting my eyes was all."<br>"How's Don?" Sid inquired, not knowing anything about the car park incident.  
>"In the ER. He was shot at."<p>

They shot a horrified look at each other and simultaneously both Jo and Sid exclaimed "What!" Before Mac had the chance to explain.  
>"The bullet hit the vest, Probably sustained some cracked ribs, and then he was kicked" He screwed up his face, when he realised he hadn't even stuck around for the doctor's diagnosis. "I think…" Mac trailed off in shame.<p>

Sid stood up. "I should go see him." Concerned for his friend and had been searching for an excuse to leave Mac and Jo alone with their kids since Mac walked in.  
>"Emergency Room 3" Mac stated as Sid left the room quietly. Silence remained in the room for a short while after.<p>

"How's Adam?" Jo finally asked

"New Jersey wanted to take a statement from him. He had to stay there." Mac said as Jo shifted to one side of the bed in pain. Mac immediately moved to assist her, this time she allowed him to help.

Mac felt let down by the New Jersey PD, If they'd helped transport the criminals back to New York like they were supposed to then things might have turned out a little differently. Or even if they'd let Adam drive back to New York with them in the Avalanche, Russ might not have died. How was he supposed to tell Jo now?

Mac stopped his thoughts; his was getting tied up and couldn't think straight. Damn, he was crazy about her and he didn't want to screw this up. Mac _was_ glad that Russ had died; he was a waste of space. However if the twisted man had a place in Jo's heart, he didn't want to hurt her. If it that meant he was supposed to spare his life, then given the opportunity he would have.

"You're son is pretty special" Jo said, throwing his thought track off. She smiled at the two young people, faintly sleeping on the chair and then grinned at Mac.

Mac was relieved; he hadn't introduced James to her yet, although according to Katherine, Jo had met him once. In fact James hadn't been formally introduced to anyone as 'his son' and Mac was still coming to terms with the idea.

Ellie yawned and she gently let her eyes flicker open, adjusting to the light. She saw Mac sitting on the bed with her mother. A spark ignited deep within her soul she felt at home, she knew that this is what a family felt like her heart filled with warmth like the heat from a wood burner fireplace in winter.  
>"Dad!" She exclaimed, which in her mind seemed the most natural thing to do. Mac casually glanced at the door and was shocked when he realised Ellie was talking to him. With the commotion, James also awoke from his slumber and shouted the same. He jumped from the chair and Ellie followed, and ran to their parents. The four of them lay on the bed, and they looked and felt like a family, even if things were still out of place.<p>

After they'd been there for a while, talking about little things that didn't matter, James declared he was hungry and Ellie offered to take him to the cafeteria. Leaving Mac and Jo alone.

A tear rolled down her face, she hadn't realised but Mac quickly lifted his hand to wipe it away, she flinched back, forgetting the pain she'd already gone through. Mac placed his hand on her back to steady her.  
>"Hey, are you okay?" He asked gently.<p>

When Mac could see she really wasn't but didn't get a response, he wasn't sure what to say. How he should start to explain the events of the day. He opened his mouth to say something about the case but she spoke before him.

"I remember Russ." She said, just above the volume of a whisper.

A sharp mixture of emotions clouded over in Mac's mind, giving him a mild headache and in the following seconds and he suddenly forgot to exhale. Mac knew this already, why was she bringing it up, did she still want to see him? Did she sill want him, period?

Mac's heart began to crack, split into tiny partials so he could just disappear. In the pit of his stomach he felt physically sick. He had an odd sensation of falling as tears pricked at his eyes while Russ's needle pricked into his heart provoking him from beyond life itself.

Jo was intently watching Mac, seeing the hurt of his face caused silent tears to fall from her eyelids. Mac was as easy to read as a book, his emotions were out there, he made no attempt to hold them back. He didn't need to. He was with the people he loved, and he didn't need to hide from them.

Mac tried to look into her eyes, they both had away of communicating through their eyes, but she shifted away and so he retreated, feeling even more hurt.

"I remember Russ," she repeated sobbing hard. Mac had no idea what she meant, why was she crying?

"Hey" He said reassuringly, "Hey" He said softer as she dived into his shoulder. He felt the tears soak through the material. After a few minutes the tears eased and Mac thought she had fallen asleep but she felt comfortable and safe in his arms and was reluctant to move. When she did pull away from him she looked down, knowing that this, the way she was behaving made no sense to him and she would just have to come clean, tell him the truth.

Mac held her by the shoulders and crouched down to look deep in to her eyes, without words, conveying that she could trust him. He wanted to reach down and squeeze her hand that was lying limp on the bed between them but didn't want her to flinch away; he didn't want to be rejected.

"Why can't I remember something good?" Jo bit her lip to hold more tears falling. Get a grip, Jo! She irritably told herself, she'd never get this said if she carried on like this.

"You remember Ellie," Mac said, trying to help but still not understanding and felt in an odd sense he was just useless.

"But to remember Ellie, I had to remember him" With the word "Him" She pulled a disgusted, almost terrified face and she shivered.

"Are you cold?" Mac asked leaning over for a blanket. He placed it around her and let her lean on him.

"Mac, I trust you." She said, "more than I have ever done before." Mac was in fact confused with the statement, but was happy with what she said. In a regretful sense he did feel that she didn't quite know what she was talking about because she didn't know what they had before.

"I know this because I've only ever told one other person about this, that I remember and that was Tyler" Jo whispered, and Mac had to lean in to hear fully. He looked serious. The reasoning dawned on him. It was a reoccurring thought. What had that bastard done to her?

"We were young, too young to be married" Jo started, going into a trance, showing no emotions. "Russ and I, we were in love." She swallowed. "Or so I thought."

Mac wasn't sure he wanted to hear the pain that Jo had been put through but he knew he had to. He had to support her no matter what. He loved her. Mac quietly took a breath in, bracing himself for whatever was coming next.

"It started before Tyler was born," Jo forced a smile of the happy memories of Tyler as a child. "Russ was working a Case with the Bureau," She remembered the case well. it was a nasty case, it ate him up inside, when he and his team couldn't crack it and more dead bodies kept piling up, he struggled to cope. "That was when he went bad."

Mac nodded understandingly, and kissed her hair. Jo was reassured by his gestures and continued.

"He'd come home and have a drink, one lead to two, two lead to half a dozen. Soon enough he got drunk every night." Jo sobbed a little and as she closed her eyes, salty tears ran down her cheeks and into her cuts.

"At first it would be silly things, _really_ silly things. He'd get drunk and mock my accent, or he'd call me 'white trash'"

Mac couldn't help but scowl at that. She certainly wasn't white trash, her southern-ness was something that he adored about her. The slang white trash repulsed him. He hated discrimination and stereotypes.

"Well it got worse, but I was convinced I loved him so I stayed, I thought we could be a family once we had Tyler. Once night I heard him on the phone, he'd made a deal with someone, I couldn't tell who it was, but it didn't sound good. He caught me listening." Jo stumbled across her words, realising she was beating around the bush and she would never tell Mac at this rate. "I tried to investigate but the bureau wouldn't listen. Russ made me out to be some crazy woman." Jo looked down at the ground, "The bureau suspended me. Russ made them give me a psych exam to see whether I would be a fit mother." Jo smiled, knowing that he'd be eating his words now.  
>"I knew the whole time that something wasn't right. But I also knew that if I kept my resistance up they would take Tyler away so I had to go back to Russ's and I had to say that I had made a mistake."<p>

There was a pause, in which Mac wasn't sure whether to speak. If it was too difficult for her to tell him, he didn't want to put her under any unnecessary stress.

"When I went back, I was in a loveless marriage. I didn't want to be with him anymore. I took me years to get out. He had me trapped. I didn't want to loose Tyler or my job."

Mac couldn't have imagined how she felt, the betrayal, the manipulation of someone she thought she loved. It was to say the least twisted.

"On the last night I was prepared to endure it, I told him I was leaving, nearly 5 years after the first time." Jo took a deep breath and lifted up the side of her hospital gown so as to show Mac a 30cm scar across her stomach to her side. She began to tear up; she never liked looking at it. It reminded her of all the pain that had been caused.

Mac stared in horror at her old injury, which still inflicted pain to her mental state every time she happened to get a glimpse of it. Pure hatred coursed through him and he felt his blood boiling, if he hadn't killed Russ earlier, he sure as hell he would now. Mac instinctively ran his fingers along it, a tear trickled down his cheek and onto the sheets below.

"I had Tyler in my arms when it happened." She cringed at the memory, and all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball. "Tyler and I were leaving, for good. We went to the door, and he stood there, glaring at up. In a rage he smashed the bottle of wine he was caring into the table and then pointed it at Tyler and I."

"Mac, he was so scary, I had never seen pure rage until that night." She whispered. "After he stabbed me, I put Tyler down, and told him to run to the Car. I honestly don't know where I got the strength, but I shoved him back and I got the hell out of there.

"He will hate me that I told you."

Mac smiled slightly and gently pulled her around to face him. "He won't bother you again," he was sincere and protective. "I shot him today. He's dead."

Jo stopped breathing, she was relieved. Mac smiled to himself, he was absolutely certain he didn't have to worry about Russ's taunts any longer. Russ had been a desperate moron.

"Two years later, Russ and I had a case together in the FBI," Her tears were still there but the sobbing had eased, "I think he believed he was sorry for what he'd done. I knew that I could never forgive him, or forget what had happened. I couldn't even look at him. But eventually I saw Russ for who he used to be, he'd sobered up. I tried to stay civil with him ever since. I had once loved him. Tyler couldn't remember what happened that night, the doctors say he suppressed his memory. He didn't want to remember. I didn't want to remember. But you can't always get what you want. Tyler started asking about his father, they began to see each other but never became close."

Mac didn't and never would understand why an animal such as Russ could do this and be aloud to get away with it for so long. In situations like this, he couldn't imagine what the pain was like, he and Claire had had no marital problems while she was alive. Katherine on the other hand was a different story, but he felt nothing towards what had happened after 9/11 as far as he was concerned, his wife, Claire Conrad Taylor, had died on the tragic day of 9/11. He was initially hurt and confused, but now Katherine meant nothing, now he just wanted to be with the woman he loved. He had no idea what it would have been like for Jo or what other emotions were entailed, as he'd never been put through such a twisted, personal ordeal. He understood now why she hated the idea of Marriage and how exactly Russ had tried to claim ownership over his wife. Mac held her tightly, wishing that he could have saved her from the hurt she had already been faced with.

-0- (A Week Later)

Mac woke up early, he'd had to sleep on the couch for the last week but he didn't mind, he did hope that Jo's memory would return soon though, her injury's were healing well and she seemed much more peaceful now that Russ had died.

He woke up Ellie and James for school and made them breakfast before taking a jog to clear his head. He and Jo had decided that James should stay with his father, though Mac was dealing with a custody battle between Claire's parents. Apparently they didn't think it was ethical for 'the boy' to grow up with the man that shot his mother. In all honest Mac could see their point but James was the last thing he had left of Claire, in his mind he'd shot Katherine. Although she looked like Claire, they in his mind, were different people. That way he could deal with what happened. He simply had no time for a break down. He was looking after Ellie and James as well as Jo and still working regular hours at the crime lab.

Mac jogged down the stairway and out to the park and back, using this as breathing space. Time he could reflect on what had happened. Although it wasn't voluntary Mac thought of Claire, of how she'd been once, of what she'd done. He thought of Jo, and although he wasn't her fault his heart had broken cleanly in two when he'd been forgotten. He was angry at the animal that had done this to her, Russ, Katherine, Detourus, and the world. He used this time to air his thoughts, and let his troubles go.

Once he returned he checked in on Jo, who smiled back at him, It had been raining out side and, along with sweat, his hair was damp.

It triggered a memory. She remembered the evening outside the restaurant when the two of them had gone back to his apartment. But she couldn't quite remember fully. It was faded.

Jo wasn't sure what she was doing; she was strong, strong enough to walk. Mac was now living with her, a man she adored, if she never got her memory back fully it didn't matter, as she was about to fall for him all over again.

His voice was music to her ears, he was charming, he was her knight in shinning armour. It was the way he treated Tyler and Ellie, it was like they were his own and James was just adorable.

Mac had just been out for a run in the rain, a ritual he did every morning, Ellie and James were at school and Tyler was starting his first day at the Police station.

They had the apartment to themselves.

She couldn't help it, but he looked so hot with wet hair, wet clothes, he melted her heart.

"Morning Jo" He called down the corridor as he spotted her and turned to the bathroom where he intended to have a shower and change out of his wet cloths.

Something about this situation was familiar.

Jo snuck up behind him, before he had chance to close the door, although he had already taken off his shirt.

"Mac"

He didn't jump, just span round to face her.

"Jo?"

Jo placed her hand on his scar.

Mac had been fighting this since he moved in. At the touch of her hand fireworks exploded in his chest, his heart raced faster, hunger and need pumped through his veins. Passion glided through his body, wanting her badly.

Before he lost control completely he wrapped his strong arms around her, kissing her hair. A tear escaped his eyelid, knowing that he couldn't, he loved her and he couldn't, not until she remembered.

Jo suddenly let out a joyful cry,

"Mac!" She whispered, moving so that when she spoke their lip brushed passed each other.

She moved back slowly, to look into his beautiful eyes. Tears welled in her eyes. "I remember!" She moved her hand from his chest to his neck and with that Mac crushed a demanding kiss on her lips, more passionate than their first. Love raged through their bodies as their hearts pumped joy in a synchronised beat.

She returned the kiss with demands of her own, plunging deeper with a hot fiery flame that had ignited the spark, which had been present from the beginning. Jo's heart was skipping every other beat as her mind raced.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" Jo stuttered, Mac reluctantly pulled away, looking deep into her eyes.  
>"Jo?"<br>"How did I forget you?" She cried.  
>"Hey, I'm here. I'm here." He reassured her. "I'm not going anywhere." She glanced at him briefly and saw the handsome sexy man she'd fallen for, twice. He looked at her with loving, concerned eyes.<p>

"If this is too soo-" Mac was cut off by a kiss that was so passionate, that it made him feel on fire, something clicked inside him that he'd never felt before, it made him weak as his defensives lowered. She pushed him backwards with the force of the kiss; to which he soon equalled and in turn pushed her gently back. Accidentally, Jo pressed on the shower to which it suddenly sprinkled water over the both of them, before joining Jo in the shower Mac made a point of closing the door.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN **_  
><em><strong>I wrote this ages ago, and truth be told, I scared myself with what I wrote. So today i rewrote it completely...I know it has been absolutely ages since I last updated and I am terrible I know. ): I am sorry &amp; thank you for being patient with me. I was threatening to end the story there before... Well rest assured for those that are still reading and enjoying (&amp; have managed to follow) this story then I will be continuing with it. I feel I still need to tie up some loose ends. (: I hope the long non-publish period has not scared everyone off. Thank you for reading!<strong> _


	19. New Beginnings

_**Author Note.**_

_**This will be the last Chapter in the story. I would just like to take this time to thank all the people that have inspired me. This is my first ever Fanfiction that I have written. So thank you to Lozzien Lavender for her amazing beta work and introducing me to the site (: Thank you to all the people that have reviewed! A special thanks to people who have reviewed throughout the story process, loopydreamer, nexis44, **__**tlh45**__**, and **__**littlesweetcupcake (my deepest apologies if you have reviewed regularly & you haven't been mentioned, Message me and tell me off)**__** Its been absolutely amazing reading the strong advice and compliments that have been published for this story. **_

_**I know I went a little haywire with this story but rest assured, LESSON LEARNT. I will most certainly plan my future stories. That way I can't babble as much (Hopefully) I hope that the last chapter rounds off the story, and ties up the loose ends I left. Thank you for reading and enjoy.**_

_Chapter 19 – New __Beginnings_

"Dominik Klein?" The CEO called. No answer. This wasn't good news. He looked into the temporary holding cell. He could see nothing. The criminal had disappeared as far as he could see.

"Can we get Cell four open please?" The old man called to the office down the hall. They responded quickly and opened the cell door. The Man went in.

Klein was in fact there, he had just been hiding, next to the door but out of eye line from the guard. When the door slid open he harshly elbowed him in the face with one jab. It was a proffecional move, one that he had learnt in the military. He had knocked the man out before he could say 'prison'. Klein sneaked out while the other guard had his face deep in a large cheese burger and hide behind a wooden beam.

An official looking man walked down the hallway in a suit.  
>"Man, What took you so long?" Klein asked in a harsh whimper, "Caleb, you were supposed to be here as soon as I knocked him out."<p>

"Close enough" He said bluntly as the Agent escorted him out of the building, flashing his FBI badge as he went through the doors.

-0-

The guard assigned to the hospital rushed to the bed in dismay. _He was gone!_ Detourus had vanished. He had been handcuffed to the bed; the handcuffs were still there. He saw an FBI Agent walk into a scanning room, showing off his badge to anyone that would look.

"Agent Jacob Smith." He announced, as a parting of people we created so that he could pass through.

Well that was the end of his career over. Detourus' life on the run had begun. The inexperienced man raced around the hospital like a mad man. Nothing. He would have to call it in. He braced himself for the abuse he was going to have to face from his boss at the precinct as he clutched his radio sheepishly.

-0-

The police kicked the door in, there they were, the four of them. Klein, Detourus, Jacob and Caleb. They began to get up in a hurry. Detourus ran to the window and looked across at the derelict parking lot that accompanied the abandoned warehouse on Roosevelt Island where squad cars had accumulated.

"We're surrounded!" He yelled in horror. This, they had not predicted, they'd found the book and now, all they wanted was out.

Marino had told them, whilst he was alive that the book contained information leading to a site in Texas where $3 Million dollars had been buried. That wasn't what the book was. It was evidence that proved the Marino wasn't who he said he was. He wanted the book destroyed, and so manipulated the people around him to get it found. They had continued searching for it after he was killed, not that it did anyone any good. They were furious. The betrayal ran deep within their veins. If Marino weren't already dead, they'd kill him all over again. Jacob looked at Caleb, conveying that he thought the reason the police had found them was because of the 'Target practice' that he'd had at Detective Taylor's apartment. Caleb looked down ashamedly. He placed the blame on himself too. Their escapes had been for nothing. Whatever they did now, they were going to be charged with multiple state crimes and rot in a cell for the rest of their days. Not the most exciting prospect that they could think of. The let down had hit them hard and their dreams and hope had crashed and burnt. The FBI Agents were being scowled at but the mobsters. It was clear whom they blamed.

Caleb and Jacob were too late to clean up the mess that he left; the police were already there by the time they arrived.

"NYPD" The leader of the SWAT team shouted. "Do not make any sudden movements. Get down on your knees and Interlock your hands behind your head!"

No one obeyed and frantically began to run for the exits. They spilt up but there were more squat men, more guns.

Multiple shots were fired and almost simultaneously the men went down. The fire ceased as quickly as it had started.

"Someone get clean up in here." The man called as he walked out of the door. Killing people was part of his job and he'd grown accustom to death. He was as calm as he walked in there.

The police had a tip off from an anonymous Agent within the FBI. It was someone who had been investigating the case secretly and did not want to be put in the firing line. Flack knew who it had been. Agent Miller. That he was certain of.

-0-

Most of the team had to take a temporary leave from the crime lab, if they were not hurt or injured; they were helping those that were. Lindsay took a month off to look after Danny; Danny returned a fortnight after her. Mac took two weeks off completely and then went back part time for the next month before he started to regulate his work in to a full time occupation again. He never went back to working as much as he had been in the past. He had more important things to do than fall asleep on his office desk. Flack had taken a few weeks to recover his injuries but came bounding back with no trouble whatsoever.

With a lot of the team off, Mac was forced to hire some temporary help. Agent Miller from the FBI had grown a slight fondness towards Flack and after seeing the case unravel before her own eyes, she felt that she did not belong with the FBI any more. She was hired to help out with Adam. Adam, the scientist and Georgina Miller, the Detective made a good team especially as he was working his way up to being a fully qualified CSI. Sheldon also stayed full time straight after the nightmare. Thankfully the City's population didn't commit too much crime during the time period that the numbers in the lab were low.

"Did you hear about what happened yesterday?" Lindsay asked Danny as he sat upright and craned his neck so that it clicked. He was still weak, but he was feeling better. It was his first day back in the lab, though he was retrained to only doing lab work. He wasn't aloud to work on the field just yet. The wife's orders.

He had liked the time off, despite the fact that he was injured. He had a lot more time to spend with his daughter and wife. He enjoyed the quiet family time that before they just couldn't do. He wanted to make an effort to spend more time with his family.

"Nope, what happened yesterday?" He felt as if he'd slept for the past week.

"They found the people responsible for Jo's Kidnapping, the murder's at Mac's and Klein."

"Where are they?" Danny gritted his teeth, thinking that if they could get out of prison once, on separate occasions. Then they could do it again.

"The morgue?"

"Good" He said harshly, but after all they had tried to kill him. They'd starved him from oxygen within an inch of his life and he had been hanging on by a tread. If Mac had been one minute later, the doctors told him that he would have been brain dead. Mac happened to be one of his favourite people right now. All of them?" He asked, just to be reassured.

"Yes." Lindsay could see that her husband had tensed; she walked over to him and gently massaged his back and shoulders to relief the stress.

"I could get used to this." He mumbled and Lindsay playfully slapped him.

"So what did they find? Did they find whatever they were looking for?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, some kind of journal." Lindsay replied. "It had official reports and dates in it. Its been looked at, apparently Marino wasn't the son of the Mafia clan. He was a fraud."

"That's why he didn't want anyone else to find it. He wanted it destroyed." Danny nodded, seeing that it made sense.

"I don't think the others knew what they were looking for." Lindsay said thoughtfully. I think they thought the book was something else. Wouldn't they have killed Marino if the knew he wasn't actually the leader of the D'Moretti Mafia Organisation?"

"Probably. I'm just thankful it is finally all over." Danny said, not wanting to remember what he had been put through during the time of his capture.

"How do you think Mac and Jo are doing?" Lindsay asked

"I don't know. I hope it all works out for those guys though."

-0-

6 months later.

This was the first time that Mac had to attend court when he wasn't testifying to evidence for the job. This court however was not a criminal court; this court was a family court. The process of a custody battle was far from pleasant. Both Claire's parents and Nicholas's parents had teamed up together to persuade the anyone and everyone that James would be better off living with his half sister, Nicola, and away from the Man that killed his mother.

When it was put in such a way, Mac thought about the likelihood of him being able to keep James living with him. If he were the magistrate, given just that statement, he would probably place James with someone other than his mother's killer. The battle had been going on for months with lawyers firing harsh abuse at one another. Social services had visited Mac and Jo's apartment on more than one occasion. Several times were unannounced, to try and gain evidence to support the opposing arguments. But fortunately for Mac, Jo and James there had been no major issues that could be brought up in court. The apartment was not necessarily the tidiest of places in the world but it was clean. Who's apartment with a 10-year-old was always tidy?

Mac tried to stop himself panicking, today was the final hearing and he didn't want to loose. He could not remember the last time he wanted something as badly as he wanted to win this seemingly never-ending battle. James was the last thing of Claire he had. The Claire he married all those years ago, he did not want to loose and she was in James, all the good she was, was still there. Once upon a time she had been an enormous part of his life. He loved her. Now, he focused the longing love he had for his wife to James. He loved his son and he would not stand by and let them take him away.

James' mother had said it herself; it would be awkward if he were to go to Nicolas' parents place. Mac concluded that they would more than likely treat him differently to Nicola, as James wouldn't be blood related and as for Claire's parents they would treat him no better. They were old and incapable of looking after James for more than 5 years. They already saw to much of Mac in James, more than they wanted to be true. As unfair as it was, they would continue to silently blame James for their daughter's death. Even if they had no reason for it, they looked similar. There was something that everyone was overlooking, Mac didn't wake up on morning and decide to kill James' mother. Katherine had been a direct threat. What he did was procedure. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Mac walked up the steps of the courtroom building with Jo and his lawyer. He had Dr. Sheldon Hawkes testifying to his good character so that the magistrates would see him fit to house James.

The elderly people almost seemed to be snarling at Mac as he took his seat. Nicola had begun to live with Nicolas's parents place, ever since Katherine had been killed. This was the first time that Mac had actually seen her. She was screaming, loudly. This wasn't the place for children, even if they were still in the hallways waiting.

James had made friends at school and he was attending a birthday party while the hearing was taking place. Mac didn't want to bring James here. He knew James wouldn't play up, he just didn't want James to be bored and with nothing for him to do when he could be having fun with his friends.

After they were called in, Mac took a seat at the front with his lawyer and Jo sat behind him. Sheldon sat in the gallery and the opposition sat on the level with him to the left. They were expected to stand while the magistrates walked in and sit again when they sat. It was a bit of a fiasco but it had to be done. It was a different set up to a criminal court and it was very different to what Mac was used to.

The other council started first and kept repeating the part where Mac killed James' mother and the fact that he did have other family members.

Then it was Mac's side to prove that he was better off where he was now. James was happy with the school he was in, he was happy with his family that he had been surrounded with.

Lastly Social services put in their piece of Pro's and Con's about the whole situation overall. They did however mention that when they interviewed James he did strongly, individually say that he wanted to be with his daddy.

Mac did not know that his son said that specifically. He knew though that this could be the main article that won them the case. He wanted to shout 'Atta boy!' or some other words to that effect. But he had to remain respectful and responsible while in court and so he held his tongue. Jo reached forward and gently squeezed his shoulder at the comment, she was proud of her son too; James was one in a million. After all that could be said was over. The magistrates left to talk in private.

It felt like hours before the magistrates came back with a verdict. When they finally did arrive back to the courtroom, everyone had to stand and sit. In Mac's mind his patience was growing short and he was scared of what could happen.

"We have taken into account things said on both sides of the custodial battle of James McKenna Taylor." The lady talking shifted slightly so that she was facing the grandparents more. "And while we have heard your concerns, we don't believe that young Mr. James Taylor is in any direct danger." She shifted to face Mac and his council "We have taken into account that you have made a great deal of effort to your lifestyle to accommodate your son's needs." She looked at the social services representative and with a file nod began her final statement. "We have decided that Master James McKenna Taylor would be best suited with his father, McKenna Boyd Taylor Jr. at his residence on Franklin Street, New York."

Mac's side of the courtroom almost cheered, and people started talking happiy while hugs and joy was shared. However on the left side there was uproar of shouting and hissing from the opposition, glares were cast across the room. Mac felt slightly uneasy, he recognised the glares. They were looking at him as if he were a murder.

Jo quickly appeared by his side and flung her self at him in her happiness. They had won, they were now officially a family.

-0-

Adam sat on his chair; twizzling around while Detective Miller was talking to Flack. He was waiting to go and make an arrest with her, but she was otherwise occupied and he didn't have the authority or the back-up to do it alone.

Ever since he and Danny were taken hostage, for the second time, they had become close. He admired his friend for the courage he had. Adam thought that if the coin had landed on tails instead of heads when Marino had boomed. "Heads I win, tails you loose!" at them, he was certain now that he didn't have the same level of stamina to continue through the pain as Danny had. If it had been he that had been starved of oxygen, he wouldn't be here any longer. He was thankful that Danny had managed to hang on in there and glad that they'd been found in time. He however was less impressed with the NJPD. If he'd been aloud to go with Mac and Flack, perhaps things would have turned out differently. But they were scum. Adam was glad that Russ was dead. He never voiced his opinions of Russ because he didn't like to speak ill off the dead.

Everyday since the kidnapping, Adam had called his mom. Every few days off he had, we went to visit her. It was true, he did have a lovely mom and he didn't want to take her for granted. The treats still taunted his dreams at night. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to your lovely mom Adam? Would we now?" More often than not Adam would wake up crying when these dreams inflicted hours of torture on his mind. Not that he would tell anyone this of course.

-0-

Flack appeared at Mac and Jo's apartment.  
>"Oh Don C'mon in!" Jo cried as she opened the door. "Please excuse the mess." She looked around slightly embarrassed of her children's creativity with paint.<p>

"I've seen worse." He assured her with a smile. "Is the Boss in?" He quizzed playfully.

"He is. He's trying to get James in the bath." Jo smirked. "Who'd of known it was such a challenge."

"Would you like a drink? Coffee? Tea?" Jo asked after a slight pause of silence.

Flack looked at his watch. "I'm on the clock." He admitted. "But a coffee couldn't hurt, could it?"

"Absolutely not!" She exclaimed. Flack smiled, he liked seeing Jo so happy, he'd never seen her so at home.

"Milk two sugars?" She said, proudly remembering things.

"Yeah. Not to confuse you or anything. I take one and a half now, cutting down" and with that he patted his stomach.

"Okay." Jo shrugged. "How's Tyler doing at work?"

"Yeah, he's doing well. Doing you proud." Flack said.

"I worry about him sometimes. I don't want him out on the streets all day everyday."

"I wouldn't worry yourself too much. Jo. He is the best rookie we've got at the 12th."

Mac walled through the hallway that adjoined to the kitchen where Flack and Jo had resided.

"Hey Don." Mac said, making Don jump slightly. "I thought I heard you out here."

Flack grinned foolishly at the state of Mac who was drenched. Suddenly childish giggles became louder as James ran into Mac.

"Why you!" Mac exclaimed playfully at his son, ruffling his wet hair. James went quieter when he realised that they were in company. As soon as he realised who it was he exclaimed "Uncle Donny!" And he ran over for a hug, dampening Don's shirt with his hair.

"I'll be with you in a minute Don." Mac said, "I'm going to change," He looked down and himself and groaned pealing the bottom of his wet T-shirt from his skin, emphasising that he was soaked.

"That would be a good idea." Flack teased and then turned his attention to the young man pulling on his sleeve.

"Come see what me and Ellie did."

"Oh, Okay." Flack said, mimicking his excited tone. Flack was dragged to the living room where some pictures were draped over a clothes air rack to dry.

"My Family" he said proudly. He pointed at a small handprint on a separate sheet of paper. "My handprint." He said happily, "It's unique, nobody else got one exactly the same." he pointed to another "that's Dad's and Ellie's and Mom's" The word 'Mom' caught Flack off guard. He actually felt his heart melt a little. He'd been as proud as punch when James started calling him uncle a month or so ago. Now, he thought of Jo as 'Mom'. "We still gotta get Tyler to do it." He folded his arms as if he were frustrated, and reminded flack so much of Mac.

"Right, you." Mac playfully called James from where he stood at the door, "C'mon, Bed-Time."

"But Daaaad. Uncle Donny _just_ got here."

"Yes, and you'll see him again soon. We made a deal. I take you out to the games arcade tomorrow, _if_ you go to bed on time tonight."

"Fine." He slumped a little as the excitement faded. "I want Mommy to read to me tonight pleasssseeee."

"Okay honey," Jo came in and took James's hand to take him to bed so as to leave Mac and Flack alone.

"I just came to see you briefly. The money you raised has been released out of police custody today, so you can pick it up whenever."

Mac nodded, he knew this already. Jo and he had already started looking at bigger apartments to accommodate their seemingly growing family.

"I know." Mac said, when Don didn't continue.

"The Car we sent you with was impounded by the FBI at the scene," Mac took a moment to remember the very fast car that had reminded him of something out of a James bond movie with all of the gadgets that had been replaced. "that has also been released. The department has no use for it now because it's been too long out of the system and has long been replaced. I made a few phone calls and considering what, you, the lab and the team have gone through Captain Gerard has agreed that you can keep the car."

"What?" Mac asked, shocked slightly. He didn't even know that could even be done. Flack smiled at Mac's confused face.

"It helps to have friends in high places." Don explained with a grin. "It's outside." and with that he handed Mac the Keys.

"I don't know what to say. Thanks." Mac grinned. He had to admit he did like that Car.

"Sorry it's not more _family _friendly."

Mac wasn't too convinced of how much exactly Don knew. He decided to play dumb and shoot his friend a confused look.

Don nodded to a pile of books next to the coffee table "I take it those aren't for Ellie"

Mac followed the detective's gaze and saw the baby name books, partially hidden under a newspaper.

"No." Mac said more sternly than he would have liked but he did see Ellie as if he were his own daughter and Flack did not have permission to say things like that. "They are _not_ Ellie's." Don was taken aback by the fatherly instincts Mac had, but then smiled with a massive cheesy grin as Mac had just as good as admitted it.

"Congratulations, Man." He said happily.

Mac grinned too, he'd fallen right into that one.

"We'll have a little army of marching little Taylor's yet."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Well it seems to be an end of an era here for me. I hope I've done the story Justice. This has been my very first fan fiction story and THANK YOU FOR READING!<strong>_

_**Reviews are welcome (:**_


End file.
